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SERMONS 


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PREACHED  TN 


TRINITY   CHURCH,   UPPER  CHELSEA. 


BY  THE 


REV.  HENRY  BLUNT,  A.M. 


RECTOR  OF  STREATHAM,  SURREY; 


LATE  FELLOW  OF  PEMBROKE  COLLEGE,  CAMBRIDGE;   AND  DOMESTIC 
CHAPLAIN  TO  HIS  GRACE  THE  DUKE  OF  RICHMOND. 


if  irst  American  from  tje  iFourtl;  Slontron  SETiition. 


PHILADELPHIA: 
HERMAN    HOOKER, 

N.  W.  CORNER  CHESNUT  AND  FIFTH  STREETS. 
1840. 


•>  '-^   •'«•-  ^^v.  ,     ,     , 


T.  K.  &  P.  G.  Collins,  Printers, 
No.  1  Lodge  Alley. 


i  f.i:G»0CH882  | 

■ ,  thsologig&lJ 


PREFACE 


In  compliance  with  the  wish  of 
many  of  the  Author's  late  congrega- 
tion, to  possess  some  of  those  dis- 
courses, which  they  heard  from  time 
time,  during  his  residence  of  nearly 
twelve  years  among  them,  he  has  se- 
lected the  contents  of  the  present 
volume.  His  desire  while  with  them, 
was,  as  far  as  he  knew  himself,  to  come 
"  not  with  excellency  of  speech  or  of 
wisdom,  declaring  unto  them  the  tes- 
timony of  God.  For  he  determined 
not  to  know  any  thing  among  them 
save  Jesus  Christ  and  him  crucified." 
"  That  their  faith  should  not  stand  in 
the  wisdom  of  men,  but  in  the  power 


IV  PREFACE. 

of  God."  In  presenting  them  with 
these  reminiscences  of  his  ministry, 
his  intention  is  still  the  same,  and  the 
highest  praise  he  covets  is,  that  there 
should  not  be  a  sentence  that  is  not 
entirely  in  unison  with  the  revealed 
Word  of  God,  and  perfectly  intelli- 
gible to  the  most  uneducated  of  those, 
to  whom  it  was  his  privilege  originally 
to  address  it. 

To  any  thing  beyond  this,  the  pre- 
sent discourses  have  no  claim;  written 
as  they  were  amidst  the  unceasing 
cares  and  harassing  labors  of  a  large 
parish,  they  contain  as  might  be  ex- 
pected, no  traces  of  finished  composi- 
tion, or  of  profound  thought,  or  of 
originality  of  conception.  Such  as 
they  are,  they  have  been  selected 
simply  as  appearing  among  the  most 
useful  of  the  author's  pulpit  ministra- 


PREFACE. 


tions;  and  as  usefulness  has  always 
been  his  highest  aim,  his  prayer  is, 
that  He  who  "possesseth  the  residue 
of  the  Spirit,"  may  enable  these  dis- 
courses, in  their  present  shape,  to  be- 
come a  hundred-fold  more  useful  than 
when  first  delivered;  that,  feeble  as 
they  are,  they  may  be  made  mighty, 
through  God,  to  awaken  the  sleeper, 
to  direct  the  inquirer,  to  convince  the 
doubtful,  to  comfort  the  afflicted,  to 
establish  the  believer,  and,  above  all, 
to  promote  the  glory  of  God  in  Christ 
Jesus  our  Lord. 

St  r  eat  ham  Rectory,  Surrey , 
,     29t/i  March,  1837. 


CONTENTS. 


SERMON  I. 

THE    INVITATION    OF    THE    SAVIOUR. 

St.  Matthew  xi,  28.  Come  unto  me,  all  ye  that  labor  and 
are  heavy  laden,  and  I  will  give  you  rest.     Page  13. 

SERMON  II. 

rORGIVENESS    A    PRESENT    MERCY. 

Isaiah  xliv,  22.  I  have  blotted  out,  as  a  thick  cloud,  thy 
transgressions,  and  as  a  cloud  thy  sins :  return  unto 
me;  for  I  have  redeemed  thee.  Page  30. 

SERMON  III. 

SINS    OF    BELIEVERS   ARE    PRESUMPTUOUS    SINS. 

Psalm  xix,  13.  (Part.)  Keep  back  thy  servant  also 
from  presumptuous  sins.  Page  45. 


Vm  CONTENTS. 

SERMON  IV. 

THE  CHRISTIAN  NOT  YET  ARRIVED    AT   HIS  JOUR- 
NEy's    END. 

Deut.  xii,  9.  For  ye  are  not  as  yet  come  to  the  rest,  and 
to  the  inheritance,  which  the  Lord  your  God  giveth 
you.  *       Page  63. 

SERMON  V. 

ACQUAINTANCE    WITH    GOD. 

Joh  xxii,  21.     (Part.)     Acquaint  thyself  now  with  God. 

Page  80. 

SERMON  VI. 

GOD  MARKING  INIQUITY. 

Psalm  cxxx,  3,  4.  If  thou,  Lord,  shouldest  mark  iniqui- 
ties, 0  Lord,  who  shall  stand?  But  there  is  forgive- 
ness with  thee.  Page  99. 

SERMON  VII. 


Hebrews  xi,  13.      These   all  confessed   that  they  were 
strangers  and  pilgrims  on  the  earth.  Page  115. 


CONTENTS.  IX 


SERMON  VIII. 

THE    SAINTS    ON    EARTH. 

1  Cor.  iii,  21,  22,  23.  All  things  are  yours;  whether  the 
world,  or  life,  or  death,  or  things  present,  or  things 
to  come;  all  are  yours,  and  ye  are  Christ's,  and 
Christ  is  God's.  Page  134. 

SERMON  IX. 

THE    SAINTS    IN    HEAVEN. 

Rev.  vii,  13-15.  And  one  of  the  elders  answered,  saying 
unto  me.  What  are  these  which  are  arrayed  in  white 
robesl  and  whence  came  they?  And  I  said  unto 
him,  Sir,  thou  knowest.  And  he  said  to  me.  These 
are  they  which  came  out  of  great  tribulation,  and 
have  washed  their  robes,  and  made  them  white  in 
the  blood  of  the  Lamb.  Therefore  are  they  before 
the  throne  of  God,  and  serve  him  day  and  night  in 
his  temple.  Page  153, 

SERMON  X. 

PREPARATION   FOR    HEAVEN. 

St.  Luke  xxi,  31.    The  kingdom  of  God  is  nigh  at  hand. 

Page  171. 


CONTENTS. 


SERMON  XL 

AIDS  TO  SELF-KNOWLEDGE. 

2  Kings  viii,  13.      And  Hazael "  said,  But  what,  is  thy 
servant  a  dog,  that  he  should  do  this  great  thing? 

Page  188. 

SERMON  XIL 

THE    PENITENT    THIEF. 

St.  Luke  xxiii,  42.     And  he  said  unto  Jesus,  Lord,  re- 
member me  when  thou  comest  into  thy  kingdom. 

Page  208. 

SERMON  XIIL 

SIGNS    THAT    WE    ARE    "  IN    CHRIST    JESUS.'' 

1  St.  John  ii,  5.     (Part.)     Hereby  know  we  that  we  are 
in  Him.  Page  225. 

SERMON  XIV. 

THE    SAME    SUBJECT    CONCLUDED. 

Page  246. 


CONTENTS.  XI 


SERMON  XV. 


1  Cor.  i,  3.     Grace  be  unto  you,  and  peace,  from  God  our 
Father,  and  from  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.     Page  270. 


SERMONS. 


SERMON  I. 

THE  INVITATION  OF  THE  SAVIOUR. 


St.  Matthew  xi,  28. 
"come  unto  me,  all  ye  that  labor  and  are  heavy 

LADEN,  AND  I  WILL  GIVE  YOU  REST."        . 

There  appears  to  be  in  the  very  construction 
of  the  human  mind,  a  peculiar  adaptation  to 
the  overtures  of  affection  and  kindness;  so  that 
while  we  almost  instinctively  recoil  from  the 
language  of  harshness,  our  feelings  are  often 
subdued  into  acquiescence,  even  before  our  rea- 
son is  convinced,  when  we  are  solicited  by  the 
voice  of  tenderness  and  mercy. 

That  powerful  and  gracious  Being,  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  who  is  intimately  acquainted  with 
2 


14  THE  INVITATION 

all  these  peculiarities  of  our  nature,  had  been, 
in  the  chapter  from  which  the  text  is  taken,  up- 
braiding the  cities  wherein  most  of  his  mighty 
works  were  done,  because  they  repented  not. 
Listen  for  a  moment  to  His  solemn  denuncia- 
tions— "Woe  unto  thee,  Chorazin!  woe  unto 
thee,  Bethsaida!  for  if  the  mighty  works,  which 
were  done  in  you.  had  been  done  in  Tyre  and 
Sidon,  they  would  have  repented  long  ago  in 
sackcloth  and  ashes.  But  I  say  unto  you,  it 
shall  be  more  tolerable  for  Tyre  and  Sidon  at 
the  day  of  judgment  than  for  you.  And  thou, 
Capernaum,  which  art  exalted  unto  heaven, 
shalt  be  brought  down  to  hell;  for  if  the  mighty 
works,  which  have  been  done  in  thee,  had  been 
done'  in  Sodom,  it  would  have  remained  until 
this  day.  But  I  say  unto  you,  that  it  shall  be 
more  tolerable  for  the  land  of  Sodom  in  the  day 
of  judgment,  than  for  thee."  St.  Matt,  xi,  21-24. 
Such  was  the  language  of  Him,  who  was  love 
itself,  who  never  broke  the  bruised  reed,  or 
quenched  the  smoking  flax;  see  Isaiah  xlii,  3; 
who  never  willingly  inflicted  pain  for  one  single 
moment  upon  any  human  being.  We  are  not 
therefore  surprised,  that  glad  to  turn  his  thoughts 
from  so  distressing  a  subject  as  the  irrevocable 


OP  THE  SAVIOUR.  15 

condemnation  of  any  of  his  creatures,  rejoicing 
to  point  out  a  refuge  from  the  impending  storm, 
and  to  exchange  the  language  of  threatening  for 
the  message  of  salvation  and  peace,  he  turns  to 
those  around  him,  and  exclaims,  "  Come  unto 
me,  all  ye  that  labor  and  are  heavy  laden,  and  I 
will  give  you  rest." 

It  was  necessary  thus  briefly  to  call  to  our 
recollection  the  former  part  of  our  Lord's  con- 
versation, that  we  might  enter  more  fully  into 
the  additional  value  which  these  words  derive 
from  their  locality,  and  from  the  circumstances 
under  which  they  were  spoken. 

In  all  probability,  our  Lord  was  surrounded 
not  only  by  his  disciples,  but  by  some  of  the 
inhabitants  of  those  devoted  cities  whose  sen- 
tence he  had  pronounced,  and  who,  like  Noah 
and  Lot,  were  anxious  to  fly  from  the  wrath  to 
come.  They  had  stood  in  trembling  silence 
during  the  denunciations  of  these  inevitable 
woes,  and  shuddered  at  every  fresh  name  which 
fell  beneath  the  malediction  of  our  Lord,  lest 
their  own  region  or  their  own  city  should  come 
next  in  that  black  catalogue;  and  at  last  their 
worst  forebodings  were  fulfilled,  and  they  heard 
his  threatening  vengeance  fall  upon  the  town  of 


16  THE  INVITATION 

their  nativity,  which  at  that  moment  enclosed 
within  its  walls  their  wives,  their  children — all 
that  their  hearts  held  dear  on  this  side  heaven. 
To  hearers  such  as  these,  what  must  have  been 
the  incalculable  value  of  the  invitation  of  the 
text?  What  must  have  been  the  unutterable 
feelings  of  hope  and  joy  at  the  instant  it  was 
spoken,  with  which  they  must  have  applied  it 
to  themselves.  They  had  just  been  told,  that 
on  the  day  of  judgment,  Sodom  and  Gomorrah 
would  fare  better  than  the  city  which  they 
loved;  but  now  a  refuge  was  proclaimed — a 
hope  held  out  even  for  them — and  we  can  almost 
hear  them  say.  Thank  God,  there  is  then  a  way 
to  escape;  thank  God,  there  is  a  refuge  from  the 
storm,  a  covert  from  the  tempest;  there  is  One 
to  whom  even  we,  the  miserable  inhabitants  of 
a  country  worse  than  Sodom,  and  more  de- 
praved than  Gomorrah,  may  come  and  find  rest 
for  our  souls. 

Let  us,  then,  enter  into  these  feelings,  and 
imagine  ourselves,  for  a  few  moments,  a  portion 
of  that  little  group  which  surrounded  the  Saviour 
of  the  world,  when  the  words  before  us  were 
spoken,  and  then  we  shall  be  the  better  qualified 
to  hsten  to  them  as  they  deserve  to  be  heard,  to 


OF  THE  SAVIOUR.  17 

value  them  as  they  deserve  to  be  vakied,  not 
as  the  words  of  the  minister,  not  even  of  the 
Church,  but  of  the  Saviour  himself;  not  as  ad- 
dressed generally  and  vaguely  to  all,  but  to  each 
and  every  one  among  us,  who  is  at  this  moment 
anxious  to  hear  and  to  profit  by  them. 

Bearing  this  in  mind,  I  shall  request  you  to 
consider,  first,  the  persons  to  whom  they  were 
delivered.  Our  Lord  addresses  '^all  who  labor 
and  are  heavy  laden."  He  did  not  apply  him- 
self to  those,  therefore,  who  were  living  a  life 
of  ease  and  unconcern  in  the  ill-fated  cities  of 
which  he  had  spoken;  who,  while  his  denun- 
ciations were  thundering  at  their  gates,  were 
"eating  and  drinking,  marrying  and  giving  in 
marriage,"  without  a  fear  or  a  hope  beyond 
the  trifles  with  which  their  hearts  were  filled. 
These  could  not  be  the  people  to  whom  the 
Saviour  spake;  his  words  were  fitted  for  far 
other  ears  and  hearts  than  theirs,  for  they  could 
not  be  said  to  be  among  the  weary  and  heavy 
laden. 

Let  us,  then,  look  round  us,  for  men  are  alike 

in  all  ages  and  in  every  clime,  and  inquire  what 

denomination  of  persons  among  ourselves  might 

be  imagined  to  be  included  here.     We  observe 

2* 


18  THE  INVITATION 

one  class,  very  numerous  and  respectable,  rising 
early  and  retiring  late  to  rest,  and  eating  the 
bread  of  carefulness,  every  hour  of  every  day' 
engaged  in  the  natural  and  praiseworthy  occu- 
pation, of  providing  for  themselves,  and  those 
dependent  upon  them,  the  necessaries  or  the 
comforts  of  life,  laboring  in  the  most  indefati- 
gable manner  for  the  bread  which  perisheth, 
and  often  weary  and  heavy  laden  with  the  bur- 
den of  those  cares  and  anxieties  of  life,  which 
an  active  mind  and  an  industrious  habit  have 
heaped  upon  them. 

You,  then,  we  should  say,  addressing  our- 
selves to  these,  must  be  precisely  the  objects  of 
our  Lord's  invitation.  How  delighted  will  you 
be  to  learn,  that  while  you  are  wasting  your 
strength,  your  energies,  in  pursuing  that  which, 
after  all,  is  but  the  shadow  of  happiness  and 
rest,  the  glorious  substance  is  offered  you,  "with- 
out money  and  without  price."  Feeling  thus, 
we  address  you  in  the  words  of  the  servants, 
who  carried  forth  the  king's  invitation  to  his 
wedding  feast,  and  we  say  "  Come,  for  all  things 
are  now  ready."  Here  are  peace,  and  quiet, 
and  rest,  and  a  cessation  from  labor  and  trouble 
— enjoyments  which  you  evidently  prize  most 


OF  THE  SAVIOUR.  19 

highly,  since  you  are  sacrificing  every  hour  of 
every  day  to  obtain  them — freely  offered  you 
for  time  and  for  eternity. 

Now,  brethren,  how  many  among  you  will 
accept  the  offer?  Alas!  shall  we  not  find,  that 
perhaps,  *^with  one  consent,'^  certainly  with  few 
■Exceptions,  you  will  begin  to  make  excuse — 
that  one  departs,  as  the  parable  expresses  it,  to 
his  farm,  another  to  his  merchandize?  that  all, 
though  ^'laboring  and  heavy  laden,"  and  pro- 
fessedly seeking  rest,  have  no  desire  for  that 
kind  of  rest  which  Christ  would  offer  them? 

It  is  clear  to  a  demonstration,  then,  that  you 
cannot  be  the  people  to  whom  our  Lord  applies 
himself.  We  do  not  say,  that  you  are  not  the 
persons  who  need  the  invitation  before  us;  God 
knows  there  are  very  few  who  need  it  more. 
The  man,  devoted  heart  and  soul  to  his  worldly 
business,  and  temporary  profits,  laying  up  trea- 
sure where  rust  and  moth  corrupt,  and  where 
thieves  break  through  and  steal,  is  an  object  of 
as  deep  concern,  and  as  tender  compassion  to 
that  gracious  Saviour,  who  is  touched  with  a 
feeling  of  all  our  infirmities,  as  any  of  those 
bhnded  Israelites  who  bowed  the  knee  to  Baal, 
or  sacrificed  to  the  golden  calf.     But  before  such 


20  THE  INVITATION 

men  will  receive  the  invitation  of  the  text,  they 
must  be  led  to  feel  and  appreciate  this  com- 
mandment of  our  Lord,  "Seek  ye  first  the  king- 
dom of  God  and  his  righteousness/'  St.  Matt, 
vi,  33.  They  must  learn  experimentally  to 
know  that  there  is  something  more  desirable 
than  this  world,  and  the  fairest  portion  it  can 
offer  them.  May  God,  the  Holy  Ghost,  who 
can  alone  impart  this  feeling,  pour  it  into  the 
hearts  of  those  who  need  it! 

Disappointed  thus  in  our  search,  again  we 
look  around  us,  and  behold  a  class  of  persons 
bowed  down  under  the  burden  of  formal  ob- 
servances, valuing  highly  the  externals  of  reli- 
gion, but  neglecting  to  seek  a  new  heart,  a 
change  of  nature,  a  change  of  life,  and  that  in- 
terest in  the  pardoning  blood  of  a  Redeemer, 
without  which  whosoever  liveth  is  counted  dead 
before  God;  toiling  to  work  out  for  themselves, 
a  righteousness  by  which  they  may  be  justified 
in  the  sight  of  the  Almighty;  striving  to  satisfy 
all  his  demands  by  their  own  imperfect  perform- 
ances, and  toiling,  laboring,  heavy  laden,  but  in 
vain;  "Who  being  ignorant,"  as  the  Apostle 
expresses  it,  "of  God's  righteousness,  and  going 
about  to  establish  their  own  righteousness,  have 


OF  THE   SAVIOUR.  21 

not  submitted  themselves  to  the  righteousness 

of  God."    Rom.  x,  3.     To  you,  then,  we  next 

propose  the  invitation  of  tlie  text,  thinking  that 

you  at  least  will  be  delighted  to  find,  what  you 

have   so   long   been   vainly  seeking,   that   rest 

which  can  alone  arise  from  being  reconciled  to 

God.     But  here,  again,  we  are  in  error;  you 

assure  us  that  we  have  grossly  overrated  your 

deficiencies,  and  mistaken  your  wants;  that  you 

are  "not  as  other  men  are,  extortioners,  unjust, 

adulterers,  and  though  you  cannot  add,  with 

the  Pharisee,  that  you  "fast  twice  in  the  week," 

you  take  comfort  from  feeling  that  you  shall 

one  day  find  this  rest,  in  the  satisfying  nature 

of  outward  duties  and  formal  observances.    You 

are,  in  fact,  seeking  that  in  ordinances,  which  is 

only  to  be  found  in  the  God  of  ordinances,  and 

thus  are  wearing  life  away,  as  the   Christian 

poet  has  well  expressed  it — 

"By  dropping  buckets  into  empty  wells, 
And  growing  old  in  drawing  nothing  up." 

We  have,  therefore,  still  to  discover  the  class 
to  whom  our  Lord  alludes  in  the  invitation  be- 
fore us;  and  may  God  grant  that  our  search  be 
not  totally  in  vain ! 

Is  there  here  any  individual  amona:  us,  whose 


22  THE  INVITATION 

conscience  has  revived  within  his  breast  the 
memory  of  sins  long  since  committed  and  for- 
gotten, who  begins  to  feel  that  he  has  Uved  too 
much  in  neglect  of  the  great  end  of  his  exist- 
ence, and  amidst  the  honorable  employments  of 
time,  has  grievously  forgotten  the  requirements 
of  an  approaching  eternity;  who  may  address 
his  heart  as  Job  addressed  his  friend,  "Thou 
writest  bitter  things  against  me,  and  makest  me 
to  possess  the  sins  of  my  youth:"  who,  when 
he  reflects  upon  the  many  known  and  inten- 
tional violations  of  the  law  of  God;  the  unnum- 
bered multitudes  of  unknov/n  and  unthought-of 
derelictions  of  that  sacred  law,  with  which  his 
life  has  teemed,  is  utterly  at  a  loss  how  to  justify 
himself  before  God,  or  where  to  look  for  rest; 
and,  instead  of  attempting  to  derive  consolation 
from  the  purity  of  his  intentions,  or  the  sincerity 
of  his  obedience,  or  the  regularity  of  his  out- 
ward observances,  feels  too  well  assured  of  the 
inefficiency  and  unprofitableness  of  them  all, 
and  is  content,  with  the  repentant  Publican,  to 
say,  "God  be  merciful  to  me  a  sinner?" 

To  every  such  individual  we  would  say, 
"Thou  art  the  man."  You  are  laboring  under 
a  weight,  which  all  the  devices  of  all  the  wis- 


OF  THE  SAVIOUR.  23 

dom  of  men  never  have  been  able  to  remove: 
you  are^eavy  laden  with  a  burden,  from  which 
the  power  of  ten  thousand  worlds  cannot  relieve 
you.  You,  then,  are  one  to  whom  our  Lord 
expressly  speaks,  when  he  says,  in  what  our 
Church  rightly  denominates  "those  comfortable 
words,"  "Come  unto  me,  all  ye  that  labor  and 
are  heavy  laden,  and  I  will  give  you  rest."  To 
you  are  the  offers  of  this  salvation  sent,  and 
may  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God  convey  them  this 
day  in  all  the  riches  of  their  abundant  blessed- 
ness to  your  soul!  The  invitation  is,  as  if  the 
Lord  of  heaven  and  earth  should  look  down 
from  the  throne  of  his  glory,  and  reading  your 
inmost  heart,  seeing  all  its  misery  and  all  its 
woe,  seeing  that  you  grieve  not  merely  for  the 
dreaded  punishment  of  your  sins,  but  for  the 
sense  of  your  ingratitude  and  disobedience  to 
your  best  of  benefactors,  should  say  to  you,  I 
know  all  that  you  have  been,  all  that  you  now 
are,  all  that  you  need  and  wish  to  be;  I  have 
seen  every  open  sin  which  you  have  committed; 
I  was  present  at  every  secret  act  which  you 
thought  no  eye  had  ever  glanced  upon;  I  have 
heard  every  unholy  word,  and,  more  than  this, 


24  THE  INVITATION 

have  witnessed  every  thought  of  guilt,  every 
imagination  of  impurity,  every  wish  of  sm  which 
has  ever  been  kindled  by  a  corrupt  heart  within 
your  bosom:  but  only  "Come  unto  me,"  deeply, 
truly,  earnestly  repenting  of  them,  and  there  is 
pardon  for  them  all.  Come  to  that  blood  of 
sprinkling  which  I  have  so  freely  shed,  and 
wash,  and  be  clean.  You  need  a  better  righte- 
ousness than  your  own,  and  this  is  the  name 
whereby  I  am  called,  "The  Lord  your  Righte- 
ousness." You  desire  "that  holiness,  without 
which  no  man  shall  see  the  Lord,"  and  I  am 
made  unto  my  people  "sanctification."  You 
want  "grace  to  help  in  every  time  of  need," 
and  out  of  my  fulness  do  they  all  receive,  and 
grace  for  grace.  You  require  an  assurance  that 
these  promises  shall  not  fail  you,  and  all  the 
promises  of  God  in  me  are  yea,  and  in  me  amen, 
to  the  glory  of  God,  and  all  are  yours,  for  you 
are  mine,  and  I  am  God's.  Are  you  still  fearful 
lest  I  should  one  day  change,  and  all  that  you 
are  now  invited  to  receive,  to  live  upon,  to  build 
upon,  should  change  with  me;  I  am  "Jesus 
Christ,  the  same  yesterday,  to-day,  and  for  ever;" 
and  whom  I  love,  I  love  unto  the  end,  for  my 


OP  THE   SAVIOUR.  25 

people  shall  "never  perish,  neither  shall  any 
man  pluck  them  out  of  my  hand."  Come  unto 
me,  and  you  shall  find  rest  for  your  souls. 

But,  perhaps,  you  are  still  disposed  to  doubt; 
you  cannot  feel,  as  you  know  you  ought,  that 
this  invitation  is  for  you,  for  no  one  sinner  upon 
earth  more  than  for  you.  Be  assured,  that  this 
is  wronging  your  best,  your  dearest  friend;  but 
He  will  take  compassion  upon  you  even  here; 
He  will  give  the  courage,  which  he  expects; 
He  will  bestow  the  faith,  which  he  requires. 
Say  from  your  heart,  if  you  can  truly  say  so, 
"Lord,  I  believe:  help  thou  mine  unbelief," 
and  He  will  do  this  even  for  you;  He  will  not 
only,  as  he  has  this  day  done,  call  you  to  him- 
self, but  He  will  do  more.  He  will  draw  you  to 
himself;  He  will  so  influence  your  heart,  by  the 
sweet  attractions  of  his  grace,  that  you  shall 
feel  you  cannot  stay  away  from  your  Redeemer; 
and  yet,  that  you  are  not  forced  contrary  to 
your  will;  that  there  is  nothing  coercive,  but 
that,  being  "willing  in  the  day  of  his  power," 
Psalm  ex,  3,  you  come,  and  rejoice  to  come, 
nay,  could  not  but  come,  to  the  Lord  of  all  your 
mercies,  even  though,  as  of  old,  the  fires  of  mar- 
3 


26  THE  INVITATION 

tyrdom  itself,  lay  between  you,  and  the  God  of 
your  salvation. 

We  proceed,  from  urging  the  invitation,  to 
consider  the  nature  of  the  promise  so  closely 
connected  with  it  in  the  text,  "I  will  give  you 
rest."  The  Lord  Jesus  Christ  is  the  only  Being 
who  makes  this  gratifying  offer;  Satan,  also, 
well  knowing  the  tendency  of  the  human  mind, 
bids  equally  high  for  your  allegiance  and  your 
hearts;  he  commands  pleasures,  profits,  honors, 
all,  to  promise  you  the  same  blessing;  but  mark 
how  they  perform  their  promise;  what  is  the 
nature  of  the  rest  they  bestow  upon  the  sin- 
awakened  soul?  Do  you  remember  the  rest 
which  Sisera  found  when  he  ventured  to  repose 
himself,  after  the  battle  and  the  flight,  in  the  tent 
of  Jael?  Do  you  recollect  how  "she  brought 
him  forth  butter  in  a  lordly  dish,"  Judges  v,  26, 
and  covered  him  with  a  mantle,  and  when  he 
was  weary  and  fast  asleep,  "put  her  hand  to 
the  nail,  and  her  right  hand  to  the  workman's 
hammer,"  and  "smote  the  nail  into  his  tem- 
ples," that  he  died?  Such,  brethren,  is  the  rest 
which  sinful  pleasures  offer  you:  short,  treache- 
rous, deadly,  they  teach  you  to  forget  your 
misery,  to  suppress  the  rising  conflict  in  your 


OF  THE  SAVIOUR.  27 

breast,  to  lull  to  sleep  the  pangs  of  conscience, 
but  if  you  listen  to  the  delusive  invitations,  if 
you  follow  them  into  the  tents  of  ungodliness, 
you  sleep  to  wake  no  more.  Who  can  number 
the  souls  now  banished  from  the  sight  of  God, 
who  have  been  thus  beguiled  into  perdition? 
Far  different  from  such  a  rest  as  this,  is  the  ob- 
ject of  the  invitation  of  our  text. 

To  you,  whose  lives  are  made  up  of  labors 
and  weariness,  daily  toiling  for  your  daily  bread, 
how  refreshing  are  these  Sabbath  hours  of  quiet 
and  repose.  To  those  who  have  undergone  the 
toils  of  a  long  and  fatiguing  journey,  how  sweet 
is  the  approach  of  home.  Surely,  then,  to  him 
who  knows  the  burden  of  a  wounded  con- 
science, the  torment  of  unforgiven  sin,  there  can 
be  no  g'ift  in  the  treasury  of  heaven  so  sweet, 
so  comforting,  as  rest.  "Peace  I  leave  with 
you,  my  peace  I  give  unto  you ;"  "  Let  not 
your  heart  be  troubled,  neither  let  it  be  afraid," 
were  among  the  latest  blessings  bestowed  by 
the  departing  Saviour  upon  his  sorrowing  dis- 
ciples:* a  peace  which  flows,  not  merely  from 
the  conviction  of  his  power  to  forgive  sin,  but 
from  the  sense  that  he  has  done  so ;  that  being 
justified  freely  by  his  blood,  every  sin  is  washed 


28  THE  INVITATION 

away,  every  transgression  is  already  pardoned, 
blotted  for  ever  from  the  book  of  his  remem- 
brance, and  to  appear  no  more  against  us. 
Well  may  such  a  consciousness,  when  grounded 
on  scriptural  authority,  work  in  us  that  "peace 
of  God  which  passeth  all  understanding,"  that 
temporary  rest  on  earth,  most  blessed  foretaste 
of  an  everlasting  rest  in  heaven.  That  will  be 
the  consummation  of  the  promise;  we  have 
now  only  a  single  beam  of  light  to  cheer  us  on 
our  way,  then  will  be  the  full  shining  of  the 
Sun  of  Righteousness.  "  There  remaineth, 
therefore,"  says  the  Apostle,  "a  rest  for  the 
people  of  God."  Earth  cannot  yield  it  you, 
for  it  does  not  possess  it;  its  sun  has  never  yet, 
in  all  his  unwearied  journeys,  shone  upon  that 
region  where  lasting  peace  is  found.  There  is 
not  that  spot  upon  the  wide  world's  surface,  on 
which  you  can  set  your  foot  with  any  hope  of 
its  stability,  at  the  dreadful  day  when  all  shall 
slide  from  beneath  your  tread,  except  it  be  upon 
the  rock  of  your  salvation,  and  "that  rock  is 
Christ."  There  is  not  even  now,  whatever  be 
your  station  and  its  advantages,  whatever  be 
your  present  domestic  enjoyments,  or  your  an- 
ticipation of  approaching  happiness,  however 


OF  THE  SAVIOUR.  29 

bright,  however  well  founded  those  hopes  may- 
be, believe  me,  there  is  not  even  now  one  rest- 
ing place  of  which  you  can  with  certainty  de- 
clare, Here  will  I  enjoy  days  and  years  of  tran- 
quillity and  repose;  here  will  I  find  rest  during 
the  remainder  of  my  pilgrimage,  except  it  be, 
with  the  beloved  Apostle,  upon  the  bosom  of 
your  Saviour  and  your  God.  Hear  then,  again, 
my  Christian  brethren,  his  own  most  gracious, 
most  affectionate  invitation,  and  may  His  Holy 
Spirit  write  it  upon  the  tablets  of  your  hearts, 
enabling  you  to  accept  it,  and  to  bring  forth 
daily,  more  and  more,  the  blessed  and  certain 
fruits  which  flow  from  it:  "Come  unto  me,  all 
ye  that  labor  and  are  heavy  laden,  and  I  will 
give  you  rest.'' 


30  FORGIVENESS 


SERMON  II. 
FORGIVENESS  A  PRESENT  MERCY. 


Isaiah  xliv,  22. 


*'I  HAVE  BLOTTED  OUT,  AS  A  THICK  CLOUD,  THY  TRANS- 
-       GRESSIONS,    AND,    AS    A    CLOUD,    THY    SINS :    RETURN 
UNTO  ME  ;    FOR  I  HAVE  REDEEMED  RHEE." 

No  subject  can  be  of  greater  importance  to 
the  babe  in  Christ,  the  young  man  in  Christ,  the 
faiher  in  Christ,  than  that  which  these  words 
iUustrate,  "  I  have  blotted  out,  as  a  thick  cloud, 
thy  transgressions,  and,  as  a  cloud,  thy  sins;" 
more  especially  when  viewed  in  the  remarkable 
connection  in  which  they  stand  to  those  that 
follow  them,  "return  unto  me;  for  I  have  re- 
deemed tliee."  May  God  grant,  that  our  con- 
sideration of  them  be  not  without  a  blessing 
upon  any  soul  by  whom  they  are  this  day 
heard! 

We  shall  first  consider  the  beautiful  propriety 


A  PRESENT  MERCY.  31 

of  the  Prophet's  simile,  '^I  have  blotted  out,  as 
a  thick  cloud,  thy  transgressions,  and,  as  a  cloud, 
thy  sins."  The  comparison  is  remarkable,  but 
peculiarly  just.  Our  sins  may  well  be  likened 
nnto  clouds,  as  to  their  number.  Who  can 
count  the  clouds  which  chase  each  other  across 
the  winter  sky?  And  has  not  one  of  the  holiest 
men  who  ever  lived,  left  upon  record  the  hu- 
miliating confession,  that  his  sins  were  not  less 
numerous?  "They  are  more  in  number,  than 
the  hairs  of  my  head."  Psalm  xl,  15.  Then 
as  to  their  nature:  are  not  t!ie  clouds  all  exhala- 
tions from  the  land  and  sea,  the  earthly  portion 
of  the  universe;  and  are  not  our  sins,  in  like 
manner,  the  produce  of  our  corrupt  and  earthly 
nature;  do  they  not  all  ascend  out  of  the  soil  of 
the  natural  heart,  in  which  every  transgression 
and  every  sin  has  its  foul  and  polluted  origin? 
Then,  again,  as  to  their  effects:  do  not  the 
clouds  hang  between  us  and  the  sun,  and  shut 
out  from  us  the  clear  and  cheering  light,  and 
the  bright  blue  sky;  and  when  they  greatly 
thicken,  do  they  not  augur  storms  and  tempests? 
and  are  not  our  sins,  as  we  have  already  seen, 
and  as  God  has  expressly  declared,  the  wall 
which  separates  between  us  and  our  God,  and 


32  FORGIVENESS 

hides,  as  it  were,  his  face  from  us;  and  are  they 
not  as  sure  a  token  of  his  coming  wrath,  and  of 
the  vengeance  from  his  judgment-seat,  as  ever 
the  darkest  cloud  that  warned  us  of  the  ap- 
proaching thunder-storm? 

Still  further,  as  to  their  situation:  are  not  the 
clouds  hung  out  in  mid  heaven,  high  above  our 
heads;  and  although  it  appears  the  simplest 
thing  in  nature  to  dissolve  and  dissipate  them, 
for  ofttimes  while  we  look,  the  rays  of  the  sun 
are  melting  them  away,  so  that  the  figure  which 
we  have  just  delighted  to  trace  in  them,  is,  even 
while  we  gaze,  changed,  and  loosened,  and  scat- 
tered, and  then  gone  for  ever;  yet  are  they  so 
placed,  that  weak  and  transient  as  they  are,  not 
all  the  united  efforts  of  all  the  men  that  ever 
dwelt  upon  the  wide  world's  surface,  could 
avail  to  blot  one  cloud  out  of  existence.  So  is 
it  with  our  sins;  from  the  instant  they  are  com- 
mitted, from  the  very  moment  that  the  cloud  is 
formed,  it  hangs  out  far  beyond  our  reach;  no 
mortal  hand  can  ever  touch  that  sin,  no  mortal 
power  avail  to  pardon  it.  For  take  it  even  at 
its  lowest  estimate,  it  may  be  what  we  term 
some  triflit]g  offence,  it  matters  not,  man  cannot 
pardon  it;  man  may  avenge  his  broken  law,  he 


A  PRESENT  MERCY.  33 

may  punish  the  sin,  but  he  cannot  pardon  it. 
He  may  indeed  pardon  the  crime,  for  that  is  the 
portion  of  the  sin  which  affects  himself,  but  he 
can  never  pardon  the  sin:  he  can  never,  with 
all  the  tenderness,  and  compassion,  and  forgiv- 
ing love,  that  the  most  affectionate  of  human 
hearts  is  capable  of  containing,  he  can  never 
dissipate  the  smallest  cloud  that  hangs  between 
us  and  our  Maker,  so  that  he  must  let  that 
alone  for  ever,  for  there  is  but  one  Being  in  the 
universe  who  has  ever  said,  who  can  ever  say, 
"I,  even  I,  am  He  that  blotteth  out  thy  trans- 
gressions for  my  own  name's  sake,  and  will  not 
remember  thy  sins." 

We  see,  then,  with  what  peculiar  propriety 
the  Prophet  has  adopted  the  simile  of  the  text. 
But  we  must  follow  up  his  idea  still  further,  as 
the  best  and  clearest  method  of  distinctly  setting 
before  you  the  great  doctrine  which  it  contains. 

''I  have  blotted  out,  as  a  thick  cloud,  thy 
transgressions,  and,  as  a  cloud,  thy  sins."  The 
idea  of  blotting  out  a  cloud,  seems  to  be  an 
allusion  to  that  dissolving  of  these  vapors  which 
is  continually  taking  place  in  the  atmosphere, 
when  the  heat  of  the  summer  sun  draws  up  the 
moisture  of  the  cloud,  and  renders  it  completely 


34  FORGIVENESS 

invisible.  How  accurately,  and  how  instruct- 
ively, does  this  portray  the  constant  operation 
of  the  Divine  grace  with  regard  to  the  sins  of 
every  believing  penitent.  The  Sun  of  Righte- 
ousness arises  upon  them  "with  healing  in  its 
wings,"  bringing  pardon  and  peace  to  the  soul; 
a  full  and  free  forgiveness  is  at  once,  and  for 
ever,  made  our  own;  the  sin  is  as  completely 
absorbed,  if  we  may  so  say,  by  the  Sun  of 
Righteousness,  as  the  clouds,  and  fogs,  and 
mists  of  earth  are  by  the  sun  of  nature.  It  is 
as  impossible  to  find  the  former,  to  bring  it  forth 
again  to  judgment,  as  it  would  be  to  reconstruct 
the  clouds,  with  all  their  varied  shapes,  and 
hues,  and  tints,  which  we  looked  upon  last 
summer,  and  which  never  outlived  the  day  we 
gazed  upon  them. 

Blessed  consideration,  for  the  souls  of  God's 
beUeving  and  pardoned  people.  Doubly  blessed 
for  you,  who  having  long,  and  deeply,  and  peni- 
tently felt  the  burden  and  the  weight  of  sin, 
have  also  felt  the  beams  of  the  Sun  of  Righte- 
ousness burst  forth  and  shine  upon  it  with  all 
their  splendor;  and  while  you  looked,  and,  it 
may  be,  wept  to  look  upon  so  foul  a  thmg,  so 
fearful  an  offence  against  the  God  of  all  your 


A  PRESENT  MERCY.  35 

mercies,  it  was  for  ever  hidden  from  your  eyes, 
no  more  to  be  seen,  no  more  to  be  remembered, 
except  with  gratitude  for  its  entire  and  complete 
removal,  while  a  voice  was  heard,  which  spake 
even  to  your  soul,  "I  have  blotted  out,  as  a 
thick  cloud,  thy  transgressions,  and,  as  a  cloud, 
thy  sins." 

Beloved  brethren,  learn  then  but  one  last  les- 
son of  comfort,  and  of  peace,  from  the  Pro- 
phet's simile.  Never  cast  a  glance  at  that  stu- 
pendous vault,  which  the  mighty  Maker  of  the 
universe  has  hung  above  us  and  around  us; 
never,  while  as  you  behold  the  clouds  passing 
rapidly  across  it,  think  these  are  fit  emblems  of 
my  many,  my  daily,  my  dark,  and  desperate 
sins;  without  at  the  same  time  thinking.  If  the 
clouds  portray  my  sins,  thanks  be  to  God,  the 
blue  vault  of  heaven,  through  which  they  sail, 
portrays  his  mercy,  even  the  mercy  of  Him 
who  pardons  them,  immeasurable  in  height, 
and  length,  and  depth,  and  breadth,  all  infinite 
in  love.  Why  should  I  then  despond? — why 
should  I  fear? — why  should  I  for  a  moment 
doubt?  As  easy,  that  one  vast  cloud  should 
shroud  both  hemispheres,  should  occupy  the 
universe,  should  shut  out  for  ever  and  for  ever, 


36  FORGIVENESS 

sun,  moon,  and  stars,  and  all  the  glories  of  the 
created  heaven,  as  that  my  sins,  however  great, 
however  numerous,  should  surpass  in  magni- 
tude God's  pardoning  love,  God's  abounding 
grace,  God's  infinite  forgiveness,  treasured  up 
for  me  in  Christ  Jesus,  my  adorable  Redeemer. 

We  mentioned  in  the  early  part  of  this  dis- 
course, that  one  great  object  in  bringing  for- 
ward the  passage  upon  which  we  have  been 
commenting,  was  for  the  sake  of  illustrating  its 
remarkable  connection  with  the  words  which 
follow. 

We  say  remarkable,  because  it  would  so  ap- 
pear, to  those  who  are  not  in  the  habit  of 
searching  the  Word  of  God,  and  because,  in 
truth,  it  must  even  be  remarkable  to  those  who 
are  best  acquainted  with  the  depravity  of  man. 

The  text  is,  as  you  have  seen,  an  invitation 
to  backsliding  Israel  to  return  unto  the  Lord. 
Now,  the  manner  in  which  the  generality  even 
of  those  who  are  not  absolutely  ignorant  of 
God's  dealing  with  his  fallen  and  rebellious 
creatures,  would  have  expected  this  invitation 
to  have  been  made,  or,  at  least  the  order  of  it, 
would  be  the  very  reverse  of  that  which  God 
has  adopted.     You  would,  perhaps,  have  ex- 


A  PRESENT  MERCY.  37 

pected  the  Almighty  to  have  said,  Return  unto 
me,  love  me,  serve  me,  prove  yourselves  to  be 
indeed,  in  heart  and  in  life,  as  well  as  in  name 
and  in  profession,  my  people,  and  I  will  blot 
out  your  transgressions  and  your  sins.  Instead 
of  this — and  I  pray  you  to  remark  the  impor- 
tant distinction — the  Almighty,  who  sees  the 
heart,  and  had  no  doubt  witnessed  there,  even 
in  the  hearts  of  his  people,  that  sorrow,  that 
contrition,  and  deep  and  earnest  penitence, 
which  are  his  own  blessed  work,  begins  by  tell- 
ing his  backsliding  people,  I  have  pardoned,  I 
have  forgiven,  I  have  utterly  blotted  out;  now 
therefore,  "return  unto  me,  for  I  have  redeemed 
thee." 

When  will  men  be  content  to  learn  their  the- 
ology from  God's  own  lips,  instead  of  applying 
first  to  human  systems,  and  then  endeavoring 
to  receive  God's  Word  just  so  long,  and  just  so 
far,  as  it  agrees  with  those  systems;  and  the 
moment  they  find  the  two  to  be  at  variance, 
with  the  most  unexampled  audacity  and  absurd- 
ity, adhering  closely  to  the  system  of  man's  in- 
vention, and  explaining  away  the  word  of  God's 
delivery?  But,  brethren,  "we  are  persuaded 
better  things  of  you,  and  things  which  accom- 
4 


38  FORGIVENESS 

pany  salvation,  though  we  thus  speak."  All 
we  then  ask  of  those  among  you,  who  have  not 
yet  found  the  way  of  pardon,  and  peace,  and 
holmess,  is  to  dwell  prayerfully  and  thought- 
fully for  a  few  moments  upon  the  words  before 
us.  Hear  them,  as  addressed  to  you  individu- 
ally, for  not  one  word  did  your  Heavenly  Fa- 
ther ever  address  to  backsliding  Israel,  which 
he  does  not  address  as  affectionately  and  as 
earnestly  to  the  backsliding  Christian.  Hear 
him,  then,  saying,  Why  do  you  hesitate  to  re- 
turn to  m.e,  the  God  of  all  your  mercies?  is  it 
because  you  have  sinned  against  me,  sinned 
often,  sinned  grievously,  sinned  wilfully?  Is 
this  the  cloud  which  hangs  between  us,  is  this 
the  wall  that  separates  us  ?  Is  this  the  cause 
for  which  you  mourn,  and  do  you  oftentimes 
feel  that  thought  of  sin  so  hateful  to  you,  that 
you  loathe  and  abhor  yourself  for  its  committal? 
Know,  then,  that  this  wall  is  broken  down,  this 
cloud  is  dispelled,  this  cause  for  ever  taken 
away;  I  have  forgiven  every  act  of  rebellion, 
every  sin  of  omission  and  of  commission  of 
which  you  ever  have  been  guilty,  all  are 
cleansed  in  the  blood  of  the  great  Sacrifice,  and 
shall  never  trouble  or  molest  you  more;  for  I 


A  PRESENT  MERCY.  39 

have  blotted  out,  as  a  thick  cloud,  your  trans- 
gression, and,  as  a  cloud,  your  sin;  and  now 
"return  unto  me." 

Can  you  stand  out,  brethren,  against  such  an 
invitation?  Can  you  refuse  such  terms?  Some 
among  you  will,  perhaps,  reply.  If  I  knew  that 
I  were  pardoned,  if  I  were  conscious  that  my 
sins  were  forgiven,  I  would  this  instant  close 
with  the  offers  of  my  God,  and  begin  such  a 
life  of  holy  devotedness  to  him  as  earth  has  sel- 
dom witnessed ;  but  this  is  a  thing  to  be  known 
not  here,  but  hereafter;  this  is  a  privilege  to  be 
enjoyed  not  now,  but  in  heaven.  We  reply, 
What  can  convince  you  of  the  contrary,  if  such 
declarations  as  you  have  heard  are  unable? 
Who  can  satisfy  you  upon  this  point,  if  God 
himself  cannot  ?  Are  you  still  in  uncertainty 
and  doubt?  What  more  do  you  desire?  W©uld 
it  tend  to  the  establishment  of  your  mind  upon 
this  subject  if  you  could  have  examples  of  per- 
sons actually  forgiven  while  here  below?  Life 
is  replete  with  such  examples;  the  Bible  is  full 
of  thena.  Could  we  call  forth  the  living  testi- 
monies to  this  blessed  truth,  we  might  indeed 
adopt  the  language  of  the  Apostle,  and  point 
you  to  the  "great  cloud  of  witnesses"  by  which 


40  FORGIVENESS 

we  are  encompassed;  but  though  this  is  forbid- 
den us,  the  page  of  Scripture  is  before  us,  and 
who  can  desire  a  stronger  body  of  evidence 
than  it  contains? 

Look  only  at  David,  the  man  after  God's 
own  heart,  and  yet  a  heinous  sinner;  no  sooner 
had  he  felt  and  expressed  contrition,  than  the 
very  same  prophet,  wiio  was  commissioned  to 
convict  him  of  his  sin,  was  in  that  self-same 
hour  commanded  to  assure  him  of  his  forgive- 
ness— "the  Lord  hath  put  away  thy  sin." 
Look,  again,  at  Isaiah;  no  sooner  had  he  con- 
fessed, in  the  bitterness  of  his  soul,  "I  am  a 
man  of  unclean  lips,"  than  the  serapiiii'n  was 
ordered  to  say  to  him,  "  Thine  iniquity  is  taken 
away,  and  thy  sin  purged."  Turn,  again,  to 
Hezekiah;  no  sooner  had  he  declared  that  he 
mourned  for  his  sins,  even  "as  a  dove,  that  his 
eyes  failed  with  looking  upward,"  than  he  was 
enabled  to»reply,  "Thou  hast,  in  love  to  my 
soul,  delivered  it  from  the  pit  of  corruption:  for 
thou  hast  cast  all  my  sins  behind  thy  back." 
While,  so  far  is  this  from  forming  a  peculiar 
feature  in  the  old  dispensation,  and  confined  to 
prophets  and  kings,  that  it  meets  us  at  every 
portion  of  the  new,  and  forms  the  burden  of 


A  PRESENT  MERCY.  41 

most  of  those  messages  of  compassion  and  love, 
with  which  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  greeted  his 
sinning  and  suffering  people,  "  Son,  be  of  good 
cheer,  thy  sins  are  forgiven."  Again,  in  tlie 
Epistles,  the  same  great  truth  is  written,  as  with 
a  sunbeam,  for  we  find  St.  Paul,  not  hesitating 
to  say  to  the  whole  Ephesian  Church,  to  every 
one  who  was  a  sincere  believer,  "  God,  for 
Christ's  sake,  hath  forgiven  you."  And  St. 
John,  to  prove  to  us,  that  this  high  privilege 
was  not  reserved  for  "the  young  men"  and 
'^  fathers  in  Christ,"  but  was  equally  the  blessed 
prerogative  of  the  weakest  believer,  says  at 
once,  to  the  least  child  in  the  family  of  Christ, 
"  I  write  unto  you,  little  children,  because  your 
sins  are  forgiven  you,  for  His  name's  sake." 

We  derive,  then,  from  all  this  accumulated 
evidence,  a  weighty  corroboration  of  the  great 
truth  so  directly  deducible  from  the  text,  that 
the  pardon  of  sin,  instead  of  taking  place  at  the 
great  day  of  account,  takes  place  during  the 
present  life,  that  it  is  God's  work  on  earth,  and 
not  in  heaven.  The  forgiveness  of  all  that  is 
past,  of  every  sin  that  you  have  mourned  and 
forsaken,  and  brought  to  the  blood  of  sprinkling, 
is  even  here  most  freely  and  irrevocably  made 
4» 


42  FORGIVENESS 

your  own;  from  the  hour  of  this  most  merciful 
pardon,  you  start  afresh  in  your  journey  of  Ufe, 
having,  Uke  the  fabled  pilgrim,  dropt  your  bur- 
den at  the  foot  of  the  cross;  then  you  are  really 
enabled  to  return  to  Him  who  has  "  redeemed 
you  and  all  mankind,"  and  feeling  that  grateful 
love  which  none  but  pardoned  sinners  can  ever 
feel,  you  begin  "to  love  God  with  all  your 
heart,  and  with  all  your  mind,  and  with  all 
your  soul,  and  with  all  your  strength,"  and  Je- 
sus Christ  whom  he  hath  sent.  To  a  heart  thus 
filled  with  love,  no  commandment  can  be  griev- 
ous: love  and  obedience,  therefore,  go  hand  in 
hand,  and  you,  the  happy  possessor  of  them 
both,  go  on  your  way  believing,  pardoned,  lov- 
ing, obeying,  and  rejoicing. 

To  every  soul,  then,  among  you,  this  day, 
who  has  never  yet  sought  and  found  God  as 
reconciled  to  him  in  Christ  Jesus — to  every  soul, 
who,  having  once  found  him,  has  backslidden 
from  him,  and  is  now  suffering  deeply  from  the 
hidings  of  God's  countenance — to  each  and  all 
of  both  these  classes,  who  are  deeply  penitent 
for  sin,  anxiously  desiring,  for  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ's  sake,  its  full  and  entire  remission;  and 
to  each  and  all  of  every  class  here  present,  feel- 


A  PRESENT  MERCY.  43 

ing  and  desiring  thus,  we  address  the  words  of 
God  himself,  "  I  have  blotted  out  thy  transgres- 
sions, and  thy  sins;"  no  transgression  too  small, 
no  sin  too  large,  for  thou  art  cleansed  in  the 
blood,  and  pardoned  by  the  love,  of  an  infinite 
Redeemer,  and  now  "return  unto  me,  for  I 
have  redeemed  thee." 

The  way  is  clear  for  you  to  God's  throne  of 
Grace,  and  it  shall  be  so  for  you,  persevering  in 
the  course  upon  which  you  have  entered,  to  his 
throne  of  Glory.  Now,  therefore,  as  the  Apos- 
tle says,  "ye  are  no  more  strangers  and  foreign- 
ers, but  fellow-citizens  with  the  saints,  and  of 
the  household  of  God,  and  are  built  upon  the 
foundation  of  the  Apostles  and  Prophets,  Jesus 
Christ  himself  being  the  chief  corner-stone." 
"We  beseech  you,  therefore,  brethren,  by  the 
mercies  of  God,"  this  day  to  present  your  bo- 
dies a  living  sacrifice,  holy,  acceptable  unto 
God,  which  is  your  reasonable  service;  and  may 
God  grant  that  there  be  not  one  heart  among 
us,  which  shall  not  make  the  prayer  of  repent- 
ant Israel  its  own:  "Turn  thou  us,  good  Lord, 
and  so  shall  we  be  turned;"  and  may  each  re- 
ceive, as  each  unquestionably  will  receive,  if 
this  prayer  flow  from  a  broken,  and  a  contrite, 


44  FORGIVENESS  A  PRESENT  MERCY. 

and  a  believing  heart,  an  answer  of  peace  unto 
his  soul. 

Now  "  unto  Him  that  loved  us,  and  washed 
us  from  our  sins  in  his  own  blood,  and  hath 
made  us  kings  and  priests  unto  God  and  his 
Father,  to  him  be  glory  and  dominion  for  ever 
and  ever.^' 


SINS  OF  BELIEVERS,  &C.  45 


SERMOxN  III. 

SINS  OF  BELIEVERS  ARE  PRESUMPTU- 

OUS  SINS. 


Psalm  xix,  13.     (Part.) 

"KEEP  BACK   THY  SERVANT   ALSO    FROM  PRESUMPTUOUS 

SINS." 

There  is  probably  not  an  individual  here 
present  before  God  this  day,  who  would  not 
acknowledge  himself  to  be  a  sinner.  Not  an 
individual  who  does  not  know  that  the  Word  of 
God  has  said,  "There  is  no  man  that  Uveth, 
and  sinneth  not."  That  "  if  we  say.  We  have 
no  sin,  we  deceive  ourselves,  and  the  truth  is 
not  in  us."  Yet,  were  we  to  take  each  indivi- 
dual separately,  upon  his  own  acknowledgment, 
and  say  to  him,  You  have  confessed  yourself  to 
be  a  sinner,  you  cannot  possibly  doubt  it,  your 
sins  are  most  grievous,  most  heinous,  most  de- 
grading; how  undeniable,  how  certain  is  it, 
that,  like  the  men  in  the  parable,  with  one  con- 


46  SINS  OP  BELIEVERS 

sent,  you  would  "begin  to  make  excuse;"  all 
would  acknowledge  themselves  sinners,  but, 
probably,  scarcely  any  but  would  endeavor  to 
extenuate  every  sin.  It  is  by  this  general  ad- 
mission of  sinfulness,  and  this  particular  igno- 
rance of  sin,  that  Satan  often  quiets  the  mind, 
satisfying  us  that  our  view  of  our  own  state  is 
perfectly  scriptural,  because  we  do  not  attempt 
to  deny  our  guilt,  and  at  the  same  time,  by 
closing  our  eyes  to  any,  and  to  every  individual 
instance  of  it,  he  succeeds  in  keeping  us  entirely 
free  from  all  real  and  heart-felt  contrition,  and 
therefore — which  is  indeed  his  grand  object  and 
aim — in  keeping  us  from  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
the  one  and  only  remedy. 

The  object  of  the  present  discourse,  then, 
shall  be  to  endeavor,  by  God's  grace,  not  to 
convince  you  that  you  are  sinners — this  we  are 
fully  justified  in  taking  for  granted,  as  you  have 
all  professed  to  join  this  day  in  the  petition — 
"Lord,  have  mercy  upon  us,  miserable  siimers" 
— but  to  show  you  that  there  are  many,  very 
many,  who  in  God's  sight  are  presumptuous 
sinners,  and  yet  are,  perhaps,  so  perfectly  satis- 
fied with  their  spiritual  state,  so  utterly  una- 
ware of  their  delinquencies,  that  they  would 


ARE  PRESUMPTUOUS  SINS.  47 

indignantly  repel  the  charge,  if  brought  against 
them,  believing  it  to  have  originated  in  fanati- 
cism or  uncharitableness,  and  to  be  entirely 
groundless. 

One  great  object  of  Christian  preaching  must 
always  be,  that,  as  the  Apostle  expresses  it, 
"Every  mouth  may  be  stopped,  and  all  the 
world  become  guilty  before  God."  May  the 
Spirit  of  God  bless  the  observations  that  shall 
be  made,  to  the  furtherance  of  an  end  so  un- 
palatable to  the  natural  heart,  and  yet  so  essen- 
tial to  the  well-doing  of  our  souls,  and  the  glory 
of  the  Saviour.  And  may  this  great  end  be 
obtained,  not  merely  as  regards  the  hitherto  un- 
a wakened  and  indifferent,  but  even  the  people 
of  God,  to  whom,  as  we  shall  afterwards  show-, 
the  words  of  the  text,  in  a  peculiar  manner, 
appear  to  apply. 

First,  then,  and  for  the  purpose  of  correcting 
a  very  common  misapprehension  of  the  subject, 
let  us  consider  the  nature  of  those  sins  to  which 
David  has  here  applied  the  appellation  of  pre- 
sumptuous sins.  The  words  of  the  context  are, 
"Who  can  understand  his  errors?  Cleanse  thou 
me  from  secret  faults.  Keep  back  thy  servant, 
also,  from  presumptuous  sins;  let  them  not  have 


48  SINS  OF  BELIEVERS 

dominion  over  me."  '  Presumptuous  sins,  there- 
fore, are  clearly  put  in  opposition  to  secret  sins. 
By  the  inquiry,  ^'Who  can  understand  his  er- 
rors?" we  apprehend  the  secret  sins  to  mean, 
not  merely  those  that,  are  hidden  from  our  fel- 
low-men, but  those  that  are  scarcely  known  or 
understood  even  by  ourselves.  For  it  seems, 
especially  with  reference  to  those  secret  sins, 
that  David  asks,  "Who  can  understand  them?" 
who  can  know  and  number  them?  By  pre- 
sumptuous sins,  therefore,  will  be  implied,  all 
those  sins  which  are  not  thus  secret,  but  are 
well  known  to  be  sins,  at  the  time  of  their  com- 
mittal. They  will,  therefore,  no  doubt,  include, 
but  they  certainly  will  not  be  limited,  by  those 
open  and  gross  criminalities,  which  are  chiefly 
confined  to  the  unrenewed  and  impenitent,  and 
which  all  men  range  under  the  title  of  presump- 
tuous transgressions— murder,  adultery,  theft,  for- 
nication. Sabbath-breaking,  profaneness,  drunk- 
enness, revellings,  and  such  like,  of  which,  says 
the  Apostle,  "  I  tell  you  before,  as  I  have  also 
told  you  in  time  past,  that  they  which  do  such 
things  shall  not  inherit  the  kingdom  of  God." 

We  say,  that  though  they  include,  they  will 
by  no  means  be  limited  to  these  flagrant  and 


ARE  PRESUMPTUOUS  SINS.  49 

gross  enormities,  and  we  proceed  to  show  the 
nature  of  those  sins,  which  while  they  are  too 
often  found  to  disgrace  the  Christian  calling, 
even  of  God's  own  people,  must,  however  sel- 
dom they  are  so  contemplated,  we  fear,  be  reck- 
oned among  presumptuous  sins  now,  as  they 
will  most  certainly,  if  unrepented  of,  unforsaken, 
and  therefore  unforgiven,  be  visited  as  presump- 
tuous sins  hereafter. 

The  first  of  these,  to  which  we  shall  call  your 
attention,  as  among  the  most  frequent  and  the 
most  destructive,  is  this: — 

I.  To  sin  against  an  enlightened  conscience. 

In  the  natural  man,  the  conscience,  although 
sufficient  guide  to  him  on  many  and  great  occa- 
sions as  to  his  conduct  towards  his  fellow-men, 
is  a  most  inadequate  counsellor  as  to  his  duty 
towards  God;  because,  like  every  other  faculty 
of  the  human  mind,  it  has  most  grievously  suf- 
fered by  the  effects  of  the  fall  of  our  first  pa- 
rents. In  the  renewed  or  spiritual  man,  as  the 
Bible  denominates  the  Christian,  the  conscience 
has  regained  its  powers,  and  reassumed  its  of- 
fice, and,  being  instructed  by  the  Spirit  of  God, 
speaks  as  the  representative  of  God  himself 
within  the  soul.  The  consequence  is,  that  it  is 
5 


50  SINS  OF  BELIEVERS 

scarcely  possible  for  the  sins  of  a  child  of  God 
to  be  sins  of  ignorance,  and  this  greatly  en- 
hances their  turpitude,  and  at  once  makes  them 
sins  of  presumption. 

To  sin,  therefore,  against  the  conviction  of  an 
enlightened  conscience,  is  certainly,  presumptu- 
ous; but  more  than  this,  it  is,  unquestionably, 
one  of  the  worst  features  of  a  presumptuous 
sin.  We  have  a  remarkable  instance  of  this  in 
the  example  of  Pilate,  in  whose  history  we  are 
told,  that  "he  knew  that  for  envy  they  had  de- 
livered Jesus;"  and  again,  that  he  distinctly 
said,  "  I  find  no  fault  in  this  man."  His  con- 
demnation of  our  Lord  after  this  confession, 
was,  perhaps,  as  distinct  a  proof  of  even  a  na- 
tural man  sinning  against  the  light  of  conscience, 
against  the  most  entire  conviction,  and,  there- 
fore, also  as  certain  a  proof  of  the  most  open 
and  presumptuous  rebellion  against  God,  as  any 
to  be  met  with  in  Scripture  history. 

Now  let  us  apply  this  test  of  that  which  con- 
stitutes presumptuous  sin,  to  ourselves,  and  how 
many  are  there  among  us,  who  have  perhaps 
scarcely  felt  themselves  to  be  in  any  degree 
sinners  before  God,  who  must  return  from  the 
investigation,  if  it  be  conducted  only  with  com- 


ARE  PRESUMPTUOUS  SINS.  51 

mon  honesty,  with  the  heartfelt  assurance,  that 
they  are  not  only  sinners,  but  open  sinners, 
flagrant  sinners,  presumptuous  sinners;  sinners 
whom  nothing  but  the  blood  of  Christ  can  ever 
cleanse,  and  the  infinite  love  of  God  in  Christ 
Jesus  can  ever  pardon.  Take  the  events  of  a 
single  day,  or  of  the  week  that  has  just  passed 
over  us,  and  examine,  with  even 'the  slightest 
degree  of  carefulness  and  sincerity,  so  far  as 
you  can  recollect  them,  your  thoughts,  words, 
and  actions.  Then  answer  to  yourself  and  to 
God,  in  how  many  cases  you  have  sinned  against 
the  convictions  and  remonstrances  of  an  enlight- 
ened conscience.  Examine  yourself,  first  of  all, 
with  regard  to  duties,  only  bearing  in  mind  that 
God  himself  has  said,  "To  him  that  knoweth  to 
do  good,  and  doeth  it  not,  to  him  it  is  sin."  St. 
James  iv,  17.  In  how  many  cases,  then,  have 
you  sinned  wilfully,  sinned  against  conviction, 
sinned  presumptuously,  simply  by  "knowing  to 
do  good  and  doing  it  not?"  Do  you  live,  for 
instance,  in  the  partial  neglect  of  private  prayer, 
self-examination,  reading  the  Word  of  God, 
family  prayer?  Have  you  no  doubt  in  your 
conscience  as  to  the  propriety  of  your  course? 
Have  you  never  heard  it  clearly  demonstrated 


52  SINS  OP  BELIEVERS 

from  the  Word  of  God  that  these  things  are 
duties?    Do  you  attempt  to  deny  that  they  are 
duties? — No!     You  are  unable;  you  may  pro- 
fess that  you  are  not  convinced;  but  there  is 
one  within  who  contradicts  you  to  your  face, 
who  charges  home  the  unblushing  falsehood 
upon  your  heart,  and  who  says,  Profess  what 
you  please,  assert  what  you  choose,  but  I  shall 
one  day  declare  before  assembled  worlds  that  it 
was  false;  that  at  the  very  time  you  neglected 
these  duties,  you  "knew  to  do  good,  and  did  it 
not;"  I  was  convinced  that  they  were  duties, 
and  perpetually  urged  them  upon  you  until  you 
had  almost  silenced  my  cry,  and  stifled  my 
voice.    This  is  the  language  of  your  conscience. 
Again,  we  will  suppose — and,  as  we  are  speak- 
ing to  the  professing  people  of  God,  we  trust 
the  supposition  is  not  only  probable,  but  true — 
that  you  do  not  live  in  any  gross  or  outward 
transgressions;  your  situation,  your  character, 
your  fears,  and,  above  all,  the  restraining  influ- 
ence of  God's  grace,  prevent  you;  but  are  the 
sins  of  the  mind  equally  avoided — self-righte- 
ousness, hypocrisy,  worldliness,  ambition,  covet- 
ousness,  pride  of  birth,  of  station,  of  intellectual 
superiority,  vanity — are  the  lusts  and  devices  of 


ARE  PRESUMPTUOUS  SINS.  53 

the  heart  as  effectually  shunned,  as  the  more 
visible  lusts  of  the  flesh?  Or  do  you  hope  that 
these,  at  least,  will  never  be  ranged  among  pre- 
sumptuous sins?  then  bring  them  to  the  test  we 
have  proposed.  What  is  the  verdict  which  a 
spiritually  enlightened  conscience  passes  on  those 
sins  at  the  moment  of  their  transgression,  or  as 
soon  as  time  is  given  you  to  reflect?  Is  there  a 
single  instance  in  which  it  has  not  warned,  and 
counselled,  and  threatened  you? — No:  again 
you  are  compelled  to  confess  that  you  never 
cherished  one  of  the  unnumbered  sins  of  the 
mind,  or  one  unclean  or  unholy  desire,  one  un- 
kind or  uncharitable  temper,  one  unsanctified 
imagination,  one  of  the  untold  sins  of  the  heart, 
that  your  conscience  did  not  do  its  duty  by  re- 
monstrating, expostulating  and  warning;  and 
therefore  that  you  never  yielded  to  any  one  of 
these  temptations,  without  deserving  to  be  class- 
ed among  presumptuous  sinners,  without  being 
guilty  of  presumptuous  sins. 

Nor  are  these  delinquencies  confined  to  sin- 
ning against  an  enlightened  conscience,  there 
are  still  other  considerations  which  change  what 
the  world  would  term  little  sins,  or  common 
sins,  into  presumptuous  sins,  in  the  case  of  you 
5» 


54  SINS  OP  BELIEVERS 

to  whom  I  am  speaking.     Among  these,  per- 
haps, may  be  especially  enumerated, 

II.  The  sinning  after  great  afflictions,  or  great 
mercies. 

1.  After  great  afflictions.  It  is  urged  in  the 
book  of  Chronicles,  as  one  of  the  heaviest 
charges  ever  brought  by  God  against  the  King 
of  Israel,  "In  the  time  of  his  distress  did  he 
trespass  yet  more  against  the  Lord,  this  is  that 
King  Ahaz,"  with  an  air  of  scorn  seldom  to  be 
met  with  in  the  inspired  writers.  To  continue 
to  wander  from  God,  even  when  he  is  smiting 
us,  when  health  is  decaying,  when  property  is 
departing,  when  friends  are  gone;  to  feel  these 
trials  as  natural  sorrows,  but  to  reap  no  spiritual 
benefit  from  them;  to  go  into  the  furnace  of 
God's  wrath,  not  like  the  metal  to  be  softened 
and  purified,  until  it  is  so  bright  as  to  reflect  the 
image  of  the  refiner,  but  like  the  clay  which 
comes  forth  out  of  the  furnace  more  hard  and 
more  dull,  and  less  pliable  than  it  went  in,  this 
is,  indeed,  a  sin  of  sins,  and  is  a  presumptuous 
sin. 

As  after  great  afflictions,  so  also 

2.  After  great  mercies. 

In  cases  such  as  these,  God  has,  perhaps,  in 


ARE  PRESUMPTUOUS  SINS.  55 

his  own  expressive  language,  made  you  "  hear 
the  rod  and  Who  hath  appointed  it."  Micah  vi, 
9.  You  have  been  laid  upon  a  bed  of  sickness, 
and  days  and  weeks  have  seen  you  looking,  but 
in  vain,  for  returning  health.  Then  you  felt  sin 
to  be  bitter:  then  you  read  your  sin  in  your 
punishment.  How  many  were  the  resolutions, 
how  solemn  were  the  vows,  with  which  you 
voluntarily  offered  to  bind  yourself  to  God,  to 
devote  yourself  more  closely  to  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  (o  be  more  than  ever  earnest,  devoted, 
consistent  in  every  after-business  of  life,  if  you 
were  once  again  restored  to  health  and  happi- 
ness. Or  further,  while  you  watched,  in  trem- 
bling anxiety,  at  the  bed-side  of  some  dear 
friend,  or  some  beloved  child,  when  the  chasten- 
ings  of  God  were  poured  forth  upon  you,  you 
thought  nothing  too  dear,  even  to  the  right 
hand,  or  the  right  eye,  to  be  sacrificed  at  God's 
bidding,  if  this  cup  might  pass  from  you.  And 
now  these  trials  have  passed  away,  and  God 
did  not,  in  your  hour  of  need,  forget  to  be  gra- 
cious, and  prayers  were  heard,  and  mercies 
given,  and  promises  accepted.  But  was  there 
nothing  more  than  this?    Do  you  think  that  he 


56  SINS  OF  BELIEVERS 

who  recorded  your  prayers  forgot  to  register 
your  resolutions?  Do  you  think  that  when. 
God  showered  down  his  mercies,  he  obliterated 
your  vows? — No:  be  assured  that  the  book  of 
God's  remembrance  is  a  large  volume,  there  is 
room  for  all  the  records  of  his  creatures;  not  a 
prayer,  not  a  vow,  not  a  promise,  entered  there, 
shall  be  forgotten;  the  stream  of  time  for  ever 
rolling  over  it,  cannot  efface  a  single  syllable. 
All  your  momentary  expressions  of  gratitude 
are  there,  as  well  as  all  your  forgetfulness,  and 
all  your  sins;  and  the  consequence  is,  that  out 
of  your  own  mouth  shall  you  be  judged;  that 
you  shall  see  in  that  book,  that  you  have  added 
an  emphasis  to  your  sins  which  nothing  else 
could  have  done— that  underneath  every  sin 
which  you  have  committed,  you  have  yourself 
drawn  the  deep,  dark  line  of  a  cold,  and  selfish, 
and  heartless  ingratitude,  which  blood,  and  only 
blood,  even  the  blood  of  Jesus,  can  efface. 

The  catalogue  of  presumptuous  sins  might, 
without  any  difficulty,  be  greatly  increased;  but 
we  would  rather  suggest  these  few  instances, 
that  are  among  the  most  obvious,  and  leave 
you  to  exercise  your  own  reflection  and  self- 


ARE  PRESUMPTUOUS  SINS.  57 

examination,  to  ascertain  how  many  more  de- 
linquencies there  are  of  the  same  family,  with 
which  you  are  too  closely  acquainted. 

I  have,  as  you  will  have  observed,  chiefly 
addressed  myself  to  the  people  of  God,  and  my 
reason  is  this,  that  it  is  obvious  of  such  only 
the  text  is  speaking.  However  improbable  we 
might  have  thought  it,  had  we  conceived  pre- 
sumptuous sins  to  refer  only  to  gross  sins,  it  is 
sufficiently  clear,  both  from  the  person  who 
offered  the  petition  and  the  words  of  the  peti- 
tion itself,  that  God's  people  are  the  people  al- 
luded to.  The  prayer  is  a  prayer  of  David,  and 
the  tenor  of  it  is,  "Keep  back  thy  servant." 

Yes,  brethren,  none  more  need  to  be  kept 
back,  even  from  presumptuous  sin,  than  God's 
servants;  even  you  who  have  been  "born  again, 
not  of  corruptible  seed,  but  of  incorruptible,  by 
the  Word  of  God  which  liveth  and  abideth  for 
ever;"  1  St.  Peter  i,  23;  even  you  of  whom  St. 
John  declares,  "  Whosoever  is  born  of  God  doth 
not  commit  sin;  for  his  seed  remaineth  in  him; 
and  he  cannot  sin,  because  he  is  born  of  God;" 
1  St.  John  iii,  9;  whose  habit  of  mind,  there- 
fore, is  essentially  opposed  to  sin;  even  you 
need  keeping  back,   daily,  hourly,  constantly 


58  SINS  OF  BELIEVERS 

keeping  back,  by  the  restraining  hand  of  God's 
grace,  from  the  worst  and  most  presumptuous 
sins.  Nothing,  be  assured,  but  daily  grace  can 
keep  even  the  most  advanced  of  God's  people 
in  any  thing  approaching  to  daily  holiness;  and 
nothing  is  more  likely  to  deter  you  from  seeking 
this  daily  grace,  than  thinking  lightly,  which  is 
too  much  the  case  of  some  religionists  of  the 
present  day,  thinking  lightly  of  the  sins  of  God's 
people. 

However  man  may  estimate  them,  it  is  im- 
possible for  any,  who  draw  their  opinions  di- 
rectly from  the  Word  of  God,  not  to  perceive, 
as  we  have  now  demonstrated,  that  the  sins  of 
God's  people  are  really  the  "  presumptuous 
sins,"  and,  as  we  shall  proceed  shortly  to  show, 
that  God  is  even  far  more  provoked  by  the  sins 
of  his  people,  than  by  the  sins  of  the  world. 
The  sins  of  the  world  anger  God,  the  sins  of 
his  people  grieve  him.  There  are  aggravations 
in  them,  of  which  the  worst  sins  of  worldly 
men,  are  entirely  innocent. 

I.  For  instance,  you  never  commit  a  sin, 
however  small,  that  you  do  not  resist  the  re- 
straining principle  of  grace  within  the  renewed 
heart,  which  the  unconverted  cannot  feel.     You 


ARE  PRESUMPTUOUS  SINS.  59 

never  commit  a  sin,  that  you  do  not,  if  we  may 
so  say,  break  through  the  boundary  of  "mercies 
countless  as  the  sand,"  with  which  God  has  en- 
vironed you,  and  which  form  a  safeguard  that 
the  unconverted  man  possesses  not;  how  much 
more  violent,  then,  must  be  the  sin  which  over- 
leaps it!  how  much  stronger  the  passions  which 
uproot  and  destroy  that  boundary!  Why  do 
we  all  feel  that  Peter's  denial  was  a  sin  far 
more  grievous  in  the  sight  of  God  than  Pilate's 
condemnation  of  our  Lord?  —  because  Pilate 
had  never  been  chosen  from  among  the  children 
of  men  to  be  one  of  the  twelve  followers  of  the 
Saviour;  because  Pilate  had  never  stood  with 
him  on  the  mount  of  transfiguration  and  seen 
his  glory;  because  Pilate  had  never  sat  with 
him  at  the  same  table  and  witnessed  his  love. 
I  need  not  assist  you  farther  in  drawing  the 
parallel,  between  your  transgressions  and  those 
of  an  ungodly  world. 

II.  Again,  your  sins  are  worse  than  others, 
because  you  sin  against  your  adoption  into 
God's  family.  Other  men  sin  against  a  com- 
mand; you  do  more— you  sin  against  a  privi- 
lege. We  take  it  ill  when  a  servant  deceives 
us,  but  what  do  we  feel  when  the  delinquent  is 


60  SINS  OF  BELIEVERS 

a  child,  a  child  whom  we  love,  a  child  for  whom 
we  have  done,  and  are  even  now  doing  much, 
and  have  pledged  ourselves  to  do  more? 

III.  Your  sins  are  worse  than  others,  because 
they  invariably  bring  a  greater  reproach  upon 
religion  than  the  sins  of  the  openly  ungodly. 
Thus  said  the  Prophet  to  David,  after  his  great 
and  heinous  sin,  "Because,  by  this  deed,  thou 
hast  given  great  occasion  to  the  enemies  of  the 
Lord  to  blaspheme;  the  child  that  is  born  unto 
thee  shall  surely  die."  2  Sam.  xii,  14.  This 
peculiar  feature  of  the  sin  was  selected  by  God 
above  all  others  as  the  reason  why,  although 
pardoned,  it  should  not  remain,  in  this  world, 
unpunished. 

What  child  of  God,  then,  will  refuse  to  unite 
in  the  supplication  of  the  text,  "Keep  back  thy 
SERVANT  from  presumptuous  sins?'' 

Lastly,  I  need  not  remind  you  that,  as  exer- 
tion without  prayer,  is  itself  among  the  very 
sins  of  which  we  are  speaking,  so  prayer  with- 
out exertion,  is  the  veriest  mockery  ever  offered 
to  God. 

Watch,  then,  over  your  passions,  watch  over 
your  temptations,  but,  above  all,  watch  over 
your    thoughts.      All  sins  commence    in   the 


ARE  PRESUMPTUOUS  SINS.  61 

thoughts;  the  most  presumptuous  sin  ever  com- 
mitted, commenced  in  a  small  and  secret  thought; 
the  woman  thought  that  "  the  tree  was  good  for 
food,  and  a  tree  to  be  desired  to  make  one 
wise."  There  is  no  sin  which  may  not,  by  the 
Strength  of  Christ,  be  successfully  resisted  in  the 
narrow  channel  of  the  thoughts;  but  there  are 
many,  which  when  they  have  passed  that  Rubi- 
con, become  invincible;  so  St.  James,  "When 
lust  hath  conceived  (i.  e.  in  the  thoughts),  it 
bringeth  forth  sin:  and  sin,  when  it  is  finished, 
bringeth  forth  death."  St.  James  i,  15.  It  is, 
then,  in  the  egg  that  you  must  crush  the  viper, 
before  he  has  started  into  life  and  armed  him 
with  his  sting.  And  let  the  habit  of  daily 
watchfulness  be  accompanied  by  the  daily  pray- 
er, "Hold  thou  me  up,  and  I  shall  be  safe;" 
"Hold  up  my  goings  in  thy  paths,  that  my  foot- 
steps slip  not."  Depend  upon  no  former  con- 
quests over  sin,  however  decisive;  rely  upon  no 
present  grace,  however  powerful;  but  as  each 
new  temptation  arises,  as  each  fresh  sin  presents 
itself,  go  again  and  again  to  the  throne  of  mer- 
cy, draw  near  again  and  again  to  the  Saviour 
who  has  undertaken  for  you;  plead  his  pro- 
mises, remind  him  of  his  covenant,  ask  all  that 
6 


62  SINS  OF  BELIEVERSj  &C. 

you  need,  as  earnestly,  and  as  completely  in  the 
spirit  of  child-like  dependence,  and  child-like 
helplessness,  as  you  did  in  the  first  hours  of 
your  conversion  to  God.  The  infant  is  safe 
only  in  the  nurse's  arms;  throughout  the  long- 
est course  of  the  most  advanced  Christian,  he  is, 
as  regards  himself,  but  an  infant  in  strength,  an 
infant  in  wisdom,  an  infant  in  his  utter  helpless- 
ness, and  only  secure  from  falling  into  the  most 
hateful  and  presumptuous  of  sins,  so  long  as  he 
is  held  up  in  the  arms  of  Christ,  and  of  his  free 
and  sovereign  grace.  "I  can  do  all  things," 
saith  St.  Paul,  "  through  Christ  which  strength- 
enethme."    Phil,  iv,  13. 

As  it  is,  then,  by  being  complete  in  Christ, 
that  you  are  alone  looking  for  your  justification 
before  God,  so  must  it  be  by  the  daily  and 
hourly  aids  of  his  good  Spirit,  sought  continu- 
ally from  him,  given  continually  by  him,  and 
employed  on  your  part  continually  for  him,  that 
you  must  alone  look  for  your  sanctification,  that 
you  can  alone  be  kept  back  from  presumptuous 
sins,  that  you  can  alone  be  made  "meet  to  be 
partakers  of  the  inheritance  of  the  saints  in 
light." 


63 


SERMON  IV. 

THE  CHRISTIAN   NOT  YET  ARRIVED  AT 
HIS  JOURNEY'S  END. 


Deut.  XII,  9. 


FOR  YE  ARE  NOT  AS  YET  COME  TO  THE  REST  AND  TO 
THE  INHERITANCE,  WHICH  THE  LORD  YOUR  GOD 


GIVETH  YOU. 


In  the  history  of  the  Israehtes,  as  every  at- 
tentive reader  of  God's  Word  is  aware,  the  so- 
journ in  the  wilderness  represented,  typically, 
the  Christian's  pilgrimage;  and  the  promised 
land  of  Canaan,  the  Christian's  home.  How 
much  additional  interest  the  knowledge  of  this 
fact  imparts  to  the  mind  of  the  believer,  in 
every  perusal  of  this  portion  of  the  Word  of 
God,  we  need  not  say.  As  a  proof  of  it,  all 
will  agree,  that  there  is  scarcely  a  book  in  the 
Bible,  which,  when  opened,  as  it  were,  with 
this  key,  affords  a  higher  gratification  to  the 
people  of  God,  or  is  more  rich  in  encourage- 


64  CHRISTIAN  NOT  YET  ARRIVED 

merits,  warnings,  and  consolations  to  them,  than 
the  book  of  Deuteronomy. 

Let  us  then,  take  the  passage  before  us,  and 
passing  over  its  primary  intention  as  sufficiently 
obvious,  let  us  consider  it  in  its  typical  and 
accommodated  sense,  and  cherish  the  lessons 
which  it  may  please  the  Spirit  of  God  to  enable 
us  to  deduce  from  it,  not  as  conveying  any  new 
or  striking  illustration  of  Scripture,  but  simply 
to  warm  our  affections  and  elevate  our  hearts. 

That  we  may  not,  in  this  endeavor,  be  sup- 
posed to  strain  the  literal  meaning  of  Holy 
Writ,  it  may  perhaps  be  necessary  to  remind 
you  that  both  the  terms  in  the  text,  the  ''"rest" 
and  the  "inheritance,"  are  distinctly  applied,  in 
other  portions  of  the  Word  of  God,  to  the  king- 
dom of  heaven.  The  first,  in  the  Epistle  to  the 
Hebrews,  in  that  well-known  passage,  "  There 
remaineth,  therefore,  a  rest  for  the  people  of 
God;"  Ch.  iv;  and  the  second,  in  the  beautiful 
description  of  St.  Peter,  "An  inheritance  incor- 
ruptible, and  undefiled,  and  that  fadeth  not 
away."    1  St.  Peter  i,  4. 

There  is  a  peculiar  propriety  in  these  terms 
as  applied  to  the  heavenly  Canaan,  which  no- 
thing but  the  experimental  knowledge  of  the 


AT  HIS  journey's  END.  65 

Christian  can  fully  appreciate.  There  is,  if  we 
may  so  say,  a  practical  beauty  in  the  first,  and 
a  doctrinal  beauty  in  the  second,  which  the 
Christian  cannot  overlook. 

First,  observe  the  doctrinal  propriety  of  the 
expression,  "inheritance,''  as  applied  to  the 
heavenly  Canaan. 

How  marked  is  the  distinction  between  an 
inheritance  and  a  payment,  or  an  inheritance 
and  a  reward.  A  payment  is  bestowed  for 
works  done,  for  services  received;  a  reward  is 
bestowed  as  a  recompense  for  good  performed, 
for  exploits  achieved.  Neither  of  these,  there- 
fore, could  be  awarded  until  these  works,  or 
services,  or  exploits  had  been  fulfilled.  Again, 
each  of  these  argues  merit  in  the  recipient,  as 
well  as  liberality  or  kindness  in  the  bestower. 
Now  an  inheritance  presupposes-  neither  works 
performed,  nor  merit  in  the  receiver.  An  inhe- 
ritance comes  simply  by  birth;  it  is  that  posses- 
sion which  a  man  is  heir  to.  The  eldest  son, 
for  instance,  is  an  heir  the  instant  he  is  born;  at 
the  first  moment  he  enters  life,  he  enters  also 
upon  the  right  to  the  estate  which  he  inherits. 
The  analogy  holds  good  in  a  peculiar  manner, 
with  regard  to  the  heavenly  kingdom.  It  is 
6* 


66  CHRISTIAN  NOT  YET  ARRIVED 

Strictly  an  inheritance  entailed  upon  every  child 
of  God,  every  heir  to  the  promises,  as  soon  as 
he  is  spiritually  born  of  God;  for,  says  the  re- 
vealed Word,  "If  children,  then  heirs,  heirs  of 
God  and  joint  heirs  with  Christ/' 

We  see,  then,  the  doctrinal  propriety  with 
which  heaven  is  described  to  us  as  the  'Hnherit- 
ance^^  of  God's  people;  now  let  us  for  a  mo- 
ment contemplate  the  practical  propriety  of  its 
description  as  their  "re^/." 

To  the  man  immersed  in  business  or  pleasure, 
whose  heart  is  so  deeply  engaged  in  his  occupa- 
tion, that  let  him  be  removed  from  it  even  for  a 
single  day,  and  no  enjoyment  will  compensate 
for  the  privation,  there  is  indeed  nothing  attract- 
ive in  the  anticipation  of  a  world  of  "rest." 
Again,  to  you,  my  poorer  brethren,  who  labor 
for  the  bread  which  perisheth,  and  yet  have  no 
taste,  no  desire  for  that  which  endureth  unto 
everlasting  life,  it  is  vain  to  talk  of  a  "  rest"  for 
which  you  neither  long  nor  pray.  To  all,  in 
fact,  whatever  be  their  station  or  their  rank, 
who  are  engaged  in  seeking  their  peace,  their 
enjoyment  here  below,  who  know  not  the  hap- 
piness of  serving  Him,  "  whose  service  is  perfect 
freedom,"  it  would  be  a  hopeless  and  an  unpro- 


AT  HIS  journey's  END.  67 

fitable  task  to  speak  of  a  "  rest"  which  to  them 
would  be  the  worst  of  weariness,  or  of  an  "  in- 
heritance" which  to  them  would  be  the  most 
painful  of  privations.  No !  until  we  are  indeed 
renewed  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  until  we  have 
put  off  the  old  man,  which  is  corrupt,  and  put 
on  the  new  man,  which  after  God  is  created  in 
righteousness  and  true  holiness,  until  we  are  at 
least  earnestly  seeking,  and  anxiously  striving 
for,  a  real  and  vital  appropriation  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  and  all  his  benefits,  we  cannot  feel 
an  interest  in  such  a  subject. 

Thanks  be  to  God,  however,  there  are  at  all 
times,  many  to  Avhom  the  very  sound  of  rest  is 
unspeakably  comforting.  The  godly  poor,  for 
instance,  whose  days  are  devoted  to  toil,  whose 
lot  it  is  to  eat  "the  bread  of  carefulness,"  whose 
every  hour  brings  with  it  its  necessary  and 
praiseworthy  occupations,  how  gladly  do  they 
behold  the  lengthened  shadows  of  evening; 
how  cheerful  to  them  is  the  dawn  of  the  Sab- 
bath morning!  And  why  is  this?  because  each 
of  these  are  signals  of  repose;  the  one  brings 
on  the  comfortable  sleep  of  night,  the  other  the 
quiet  rest  and  calm  enjoyment  of  this  hallowed 
day.     How  exactly,  then,  does  such  a  heaven, 


68  CHRISTIAN  NOT  YET  ARRIVED 

as  the  Word  of  God  describes,  meet  their  neces- 
sities and  their  desires — "That  rest  which  re- 
maineth  for  the  people  of  God."  To  know 
that  they  are  daily  preparing  for,  and  daily 
drawing  nearer  to  a  state  of  existence,  upon 
which  the  curse  that  first  inflicted  labor  has 
never  fallen,  to  know  that  God  has  condescend- 
ed to  reveal  an  attribute  of  that  heavenly  king- 
dom which  peculiarly  endears  it  even  to  them, 
to  be  assured  that  yet  a  Uttle  more  of  toil,  a 
little  more  of  labor,  and  this  probation-state 
shall  finish,  and  the  Saviour,  whom  they  are 
now  delighting  to  serve,  shall  come  again  and 
receive  them  to  himself,  that  where  he  is,  there 
they  may  be  also. 

And  again,  the  godly  men  of  business,  en- 
gaged, as  they  are  in  duty  bound  to  be,  in  la- 
boring mentally,  while  those  to  whom  we  have 
just  referred,  are  laboring  corporally,  for  the 
bread  which  perisheth— has  the  promise  of  rest 
no  charms  for  them?  Is  it  no  delight  to  thern 
to  think  that  there  is  a  state  preparing,  where 
they  shall,  without  limit  and  without  end,  enjoy 
those  spiritual  pleasures  of  which  they  must 
now  content  themselves  with  a  hasty  draught, 
and  then  away  again?     We  believe  that  many 


69 

of  this  large  and  important  class  are  fully  sensi- 
ble of  all  the  blessedness  which  that  short  word 
includes,  and  that  when  they  hear  of  "rest/' 
they  long  for  the  day  when  the  noise  of  this 
busy  world  shall  be  heard  no  more,  when  the 
office  and  the  counting-house  shall  be  for  ever 
closed,  and  the  crowded  resort  of  men,  and  the 
all-engrossing  subjects  of  this  world's  occupa- 
tions shall  be  silenced,  and  they  shall  have  en- 
tered into  that  rest,  from  which  they  shall  go  no 
more  out  for  ever. 

But  is  there  not  still  a  third  class  to  whom 
also  the  description  of  the  text  may  bring  a 
word  of  consolation,  when  it  presents  to  them 
the  Christian's  heaven  as  a  place  of  rest?  The 
godly  rich,  those  members  of  the  higher  classes 
in  society,  to  whom  pleasure  is  a  toil,  and 
amusement  an  occupation,  do  they  never  sigh 
for  rest?  a  rest  more  substantial,  a  calm  more 
perfect,  than  the  happiest  lot  on  earth  can  ever 
bring.  Yes,  we  doubt  not,  that  those  among 
them,  and  there  are  many  such,  whom  circum- 
stances have  placed  where,  perhaps,  their  hearts 
would  have  never  placed  them,  amidst  the  la- 
bors of  gaiety,  and  the  disappointments  of  gra- 
tification, and  the  weariness  and  emptiness  of 


70  CHRISTIAN  NOT  YET  ARRIVED 

what  is  miscalled  a  life  of  pleasure,  even  these 
often  feel,  with  the  Psalmist,  "0  that  I  had 
wings  like  a  dove,  for  then  would  I  flee  away 
and  be  at  rest/^ 

There  is,  then,  one  common  ground  upon 
which  all  the  three  classes  to  whom  I  have  al- 
luded, separate  and  distinct  as  they  are  in  their 
stations,  feelings,  and  occupations,  meet  in  per- 
fect harmony,  and  in  complete  equality,  namely, 
in  hailing  the  rest  of  which  we  speak,  as  a  rest 
from  toil  or  labor,  and  still  more  than  this,  from 
the  struggles  and  conflicts  of  sin.  This  is,  un- 
questionably, the  feature  which  most  endears 
the  rest  of  heaven  to  the  true  believer,  be  his 
station  what  it  may.  The  highest  and  lowest 
among  ourselves  can  here  completely  sympa- 
thise; the  evil  heart  of  unbelief  is  common  to 
us  all;  the  up-risings  of  pride,  and  of  vanity,  of 
selfishness,  of  covetousness,  however  refined 
and  subtle  may  be  their  workings  in  the  one, 
and  however  coarse  and  disgusting  in  the  other, 
are  still  common  to  us  all,  differing  in  nothing 
to  the  eye  of  God,  and  differing  as  little,  in  the 
dangers  and  pains  of  the  conflict,  to  ourselves. 
We  can  then  all,  and  if  we  are  the  children  of 
God  we  shall,  most  highly  appreciate  this  quali- 


AT  HIS  journey's  END.  .  71 

fication  of  our  promised  home.  Who  can  de- 
scribe the  blessedness  of  a  state  in  which  these 
daily,  hourly,  ceaseless  struggles  shall  be  un- 
known? Here,  no  sooner  is  one  temptation 
vanquished,  than  another  presents  itself;  no 
sooner  is  one  evil  device  driven  out  of  the  heart, 
than  there  appears  to  be  almost  a  conflict  among 
those  that  remain,  for  its  vacant  place;  nay, 
even  the  very  victory  itself  over  some  besetting 
sin,  too  often  brings  with  it  defeat  and  disgrace, 
by  inducing  us  to  disregard  the  next  encounter. 
How  indescribably  comforting  then  to  look  for- 
ward to  a  time  when  the  last  battle  shall  have 
been  fought,  and  to  a  place  where  toils  and 
conflicts,  such  as  these,  are  utterly  unknown. 
Perhaps  of  all  the  attributes  of  heaven,  this  sin- 
gle one  of  rest,  is  the  only  one  which  could, 
with  our  present  limited  faculties,  thus  have 
met  the  wants  and  satisfied  the  longings  of  all 
classes,  from  the  highest  to  the  lowest,  and  of 
all  and  each  of  the  persons  in  those  classes. 
How  merciful  is  our  Heavenly  Father,  thus  to 
present  before  the  eyes  of  every  child  in  his 
redeemed  family,  just  that  qualification  of  his 
future  abode,  which  every  one  would  have  se- 
lected for  himself— rest.      Rest  from  sin,  rest 


72        '  CHRISTIAN  NOT  YET  ARRIVED 

from  labor,  rest  from  suffering,  rest  from  sorrow, 
rest  from  every  thing  but  from  those  blessed, 
delightful,  heart-elevating  praises  and  worship 
and  services  of  our  God,  in  which  the  glorified 
inhabitants  of  the  heavenly  inheritance  "rest 
not  day  nor  night,"  but  are  for  ever  and  for 
ever,  engaged  in  one  unwearied  round  of  ever- 
lasting ministrations. 

Such  is  a  faint  and  shadowy  outline  of  the 
glorious  inheritance,  the  blessed  rest,  to  which 
the  true  Israel  of  God,  are,  in  this  world,  con- 
tinually upon  their  journey.  We  address  you, 
then,  as  Moses  did  the  Israel  of  old,  and  we 
say.  Remember,  brethren,  "Ye  are  not  as  yet 
come  to  the  rest  and  to  the  inheritance  which 
the  Lord  your  God  giveth  you;"  and  are  your 
feet  already  weary?  Are  the  first  strong  feel- 
ings of  resolution  with  which  you  commenced 
the  journey,  already  past?  Did  you  not,  as  the 
Lord  of  the  way  directed  you,  "  sit  down  first, 
and  count  the  cost?"  There  has  no  strange 
thing  happened  unto  you;  nothing  which  He 
who  brought  you  into  the  way,  and  is  now  em- 
ployed in  guiding  you,  and  keeping  you  in  the 
the  way,  did  not  fully  anticipate,  when  you 
entered  upon  the  heavenward  path.    Therefore, 


73 

be  not  discouraged  even  by  the  most  frequent 
failures;  the  Lord  is  long-suffering,  and  of  great 
mercy,  and  willeth  not  that  any  should  perish, 
his  strength,  his  wisdom,  his  love,  are  all  en- 
gaged for  you  at  this  moment,  as  fully  as  they 
were  for  Israel;  not  a  fall  which  you  have  ex- 
perienced since  you  commenced  upon  the  path, 
not  a  pollution  which  you  have  contracted  by 
the  way,  that  he  has  not  provided  for;  the 
fountain  which  he  opened  for  you  is  for  ever 
flowing;  a  stream  runs  from  it  for  ever  beside 
your  path,  and  the  voice  of  the  Great  Lord  of 
the  fountain  is  for  ever  sounding  in  your  ears, 
as  to  him  of  old,  "  Wash,  and  be  clean."  No 
defilement,  no  pollution  too  deep  for  those 
cleansing  waters;  only,  lose  no  time  in  your  ap- 
plication; after  every  fall,  as  soon  as  you  regain 
your  footing,  away  to  the  living  stream,  leave 
not  one  spot  without  renewing  your  visit  there, 
where  every  humble,  every  way-worn  traveller 
finds  cleansing,  refreshment,  and  consolation. 
And  as  you  wind  along  the  devious  path,  the 
same  good  Lord  has  stationed  his  ministers  at 
every  turning,  saying,  "This  is  the  way,  walk 
ye  in  it."  So  that,  unknowingly  to  wander  far 
away  from  it,  is  impossible.  While  he  has 
7 


74  CHRISTIAN  NOT  YET  ARRIVED 

again  commissioned  us  to  address  you,  as  Mo- 
ses did  the  Israelites  of  old,  with  many  of  these 
encouraging  and  strengthening  directions,  "Be- 
hold, the  Lord  thy  God  has  set  the  land  before 
thee:  go  up  and  possess  it,  as  the  Lord  God  of 
thy  fathers  hath  said  unto  thee.  Fear  not,  nei- 
ther be  discouraged."  "It  is  a  good  land  which 
the  Lord  our  God  doth  give  us."  "In  the  wil- 
derness thou  hast  seen  how  that  the  Lord  thy 
God  bare  thee,  as  a  man  doth  bear  his  son,  in 
all  the  way  that  ye  went,  until  ye  came  unto 
this  place." 

Surely  here  is  encouragement  sufficient,  fully 
sufficient  for  the  necessities  of  every  individual 
among  you.  You  have  seen  that  it  is  indeed  a 
good  land,  well  worthy  of  every  effort,  every 
toil  and  labor  here ;  and  you  have  seen,  more- 
over, as  Israel  saw,  and  was  desired  to  bear  in 
mind,  that  "the  Lord  your  God  doth  give  it 
you,"  a  free  gift,  an  unpurchased  inheritance, 
purchased  indeed  for  you,  but  unquestionably 
not  purchased  by  you.  You  have  seen,  more- 
over, in  your  own  experience,  how  the  Lord 
has  borne  you  up,  as  a  man  beareth  his  son, 
"as  an  eagle  stirreth  up  her  nest,  fluttereth  over 
her  young,  spreadeth  abroad  her  wings,  taketh 


AT  HIS  journey's  END.  75 

her  young  and  beareth  them  upon  her  wings, 
so  the  Lord  alone  has  led  you  even  until  this 
day;"  Deut.  xxxii,  11;  and,  as  Moses  says, 
"unto  this  place.''  Yes,  brethren,  from  the  first 
hour  of  your  spiritual  birth,  until  the  hour  that 
he  brought  you  within  these  walls,  to  hear  a 
message  of  peace  this  day,  even  to  the  present 
moment  and  the  present  place,  has  your  God 
directed  your  footsteps,  and  strengthened  your 
hands,  and  encouraged  your  hearts.  Could  we 
read  aloud  the  history  of  every  child  of  God 
here  present,  what  a  commentary,  what  a  cor- 
roboration would  it  afford  to  this  assertion ; 
might  we  not  say  to  one.  Through  how  many 
trials  and  temptations  has  the  Lord  safely  con- 
ducted you,  when  you  were  compelled  almost 
to  say  with  David,  "as  for  me,  my  feet  were 
almost  gone,  my  steps  had  well  nigh  slipped?" 
even  then  the  everlasting  arms  were  beneath 
you,  and  brought  you  safely  through,  and,  with 
the  temptation,  sent  a  way  to  escape,  that  you 
might  be  able  to  bear  it.  Might  we  not  say  to 
another.  When  your  afflictions  increased  upon 
you,  so  that  their  dark  waters  went,  as  David 
says,  "even  over  your  soul,"  and  you  thought 
that  there  was  none  that  cared  for  you,  how 


76  CHRISTIAN  NOT  YET  ARRIVED 

wonderfully  did  the  Lord  support  you,  and 
raised  you  up  friends,  or  was  himself  better 
than  all  friends  to  you,  and  cheered  your  heart 
and  sanctified  your  sorrow,  and  brought  some 
of  the  brightest  flashes  of  his  love,  out  of  the 
darkest  clouds  of  his  visitations!  Might  we 
not  say  to  each,  there  are  passages  in  your  his- 
tory, known  only  to  God  and  your  own  soul, 
which  ought  to  make  you  ashamed  that  you 
should  even  for  one  moment,  doubt  either  his 
power  or  his  will  to  bring  you,  in  his  own  good 
time,  in  safety  to  your  rest,  and  to  give  you  an 
inheritance  with  all  them  that  are  sanctified. 
"0  ye  of  little  faith,  wherefore  dost  thou  doubt?^' 
But  are  there  any  of  you  who  think  that 
your  encouragements  and  consolations  have 
fallen  short  of  what  the  Lord  had  led  you  to 
expect  when  you  cast  in  your  lot  with  his  peo- 
ple? then  bear  in  mind,  that  "ye  are  not  as  yet 
come  to  the  rest,"  and  is  it  therefore  wise,  or 
grateful,  or  reasonable,  that  you  should  repine 
at  the  toils  and  trials  of  the  way?  If  you  had 
indeed  arrived  at  the  inheritance,  and  found  it 
unworthy  of  you,  unequal  to  your  expectations, 
unsatisfactory  to  your  soul,  we  can  well  imagine 
your  repinings;  but  you  are  still  on  the  road, 


AT  HIS  journey's  END.  k  77 

you  are  at  present  but  a  way-faring  man,  and 
will  you  complain  that  God  gives  you  not  the 
same  entertainment  on  the  journey  which  he 
has  pledged  himself  to  give  you  at  the  journey's 
end?  Ought  it  not  in  all  reason  to  be  enough, 
that  he  has  made  the  way  so  plain,  that  "the 
way-faring  man,  though  a  fool,  shall  not  err 
therein?"  That  he  has  so  carried  you  over  its 
rough  and  stony  places,  and  through  its  dark 
forests,  and  across  its  rapid  streams,  and  away 
out  of  the  reach  of  its  lowering  tempests,  that 
you  escaped,  uninjured,  even  to  the  present 
hour?  Do  you  complain  that  although  you 
have  been  indeed  carried,  you  have  not  been 
comforted,  that  you  have  been  kept  upon  the 
road,  but  not  as  others  have,  in  the  fulness  of 
assurance  and  joy?  Be  not  dissatisfied  though 
it  be  thus  with  you:  there  may  be,  and  doubt- 
less there  are,  fully  sufficient  reasons  that  some 
of  God's  strongest  consolations  should  be  with- 
held from  you  for  the  present,  perhaps  your 
very  stability  depends  on  this  privation;  were 
you  to  enjoy  all  of  comfort  and  encouragement 
which  some  enjoy,  it  might  be  your  ruin,  by 
rendering  you  a  careless,  confident,  and  even  an 
unholy  walker.  Be  content  that  he  who  appor- 
7* 


78  CHRISTIAN  NOT  YET  ARRIVED 

tions  your  afflictions  and  your  trials,  apportions 
also  your  consolations  and  your  strength,  that 
the  one  will  always  be  regulated  by  the  other, 
and  that  he  withholds  his  consolations  in  love, 
quite  as  certainly  as  that  he  vouchsafes  them  in 
love;  leave  it,  therefore,  to  him  who  has  chosen 
your  inheritance  for  you,  to  choose  also  the  way 
by  which,  and  the  manner  in  which,  you  shall 
travel  to  it.  Only  rest  calmly  and  unhesitating- 
ly upon  the  promises  of  him,  "who,  according 
to  his  abundant  mercy,  hath  begotten  you  again 
to  an  inheritance  incorruptible,  and  undefiled, 
and  that  fadeth  not  away,  reserved  in  heaven 
for  you,  who  are  kept  by  the  power  of  God 
through  faith  unto  salvation."  St.  Peter  i,  4. 
You  have  not  yet  approached  the  land  of  your 
inheritance;  you  have  not  yet  descended  to  the 
brink  of  the  dark  waters  of  Jordan,  which  di- 
vide Canaan  from  the  wilderness;  you  have  not 
yet,  therefore,  needed  the  largest  of  the  pro- 
mises— "When  thou  passest  through  the  waters, 
I  will  be  with  thee;  and  through  the  rivers, 
they  shall  not  overflow  thee;"  Isaiah  xliii,  2; 
you  have  never  yet  required  the  strongest  of 
his  consolations,  and  God  acts  as  carefully  in 
the  spiritual  world,  as  in  the  world  of  his  provi- 


AT  HIS  journey's  END.  79 

dence;  there  is  no  waste,  no  unnecessary  out- 
lay, there  is  just  so  much  bestowed,  as  you. 
actually  require,  and  no  more.  But,  remember 
that  all  the  consolations  of  God  are  yours,  when 
you  need  them,  as  certainly  as  that  they  shall 
not  be  yours,  before  you  need  them.  They  are 
all  "yea  and  amen  in  Christ  Jesus,'-'  purchased 
for  you  by  him,  given  to  you  through  him,  and 
laid  up  for  you  in  him.  As  surely  as  that  "  in 
the  world  ye  shall  have  tribulation,"  St.  John 
xvi,  33,  so  certainly  in  that  tribulation  you  shall 
have  comfort,  from  Him  who  hath  said  to  you, 
"Be  of  good  cheer,  I  have  overcome  the  world." 
Ibid.  As  surely  as  that  a  day  of  trouble  awaits 
you,  so  certainly  in  that  trouble,  shall  you  have 
peace,  from  Him  who  hath  said,  "Peace  I  leave 
with  you,  my  peace  I  give  unto  you."  As 
surely  as  he  has  promised  you  an  inheritance, 
so  certainly  will  he  keep  it  for  you,  and  you  for 
it.  As  surely  as  that  your  eyes  shall  be  closed 
in  darkness,  that  you  shall  lie  down  in  the  grave, 
that  your  heart  and  your  flesh  shall  fail  you,  so 
unquestionably  shall  God  be  the  "strength  of 
your  heart,  and  your  portion  for  ever." 


80 


SERMOxN  V. 

ACQUAINTANCE  WITH  GOD. 


Job  XXII,  21.     (Part.) 

"ACQUAINT  THYSELF  NOW  WITH  GOD." 

That  the  advice  given  in  these  words  was 
sound  and  judicious,  no  one  who  beUeves  in  the 
existence  of  a  God,  will  venture  to  deny.  If 
there  be  a  God,  and  if  that  God  is  the  Being, 
who  regulates  every  thing  which  can  affect  us 
now,  and  who  arbitrates  our  portion  throughout 
eternity,  then,  most  assuredly,  it  is  of  the  very 
first  importance,  that  we  should  be  acquainted 
rightly,  intimately,  savingly  acquainted,  with 
this  great,  and  good,  and  wonderful  Being. 

Perhaps,  however,  an  objection,  which  must 
be  met  and  answered,  may  arise  in  the  minds 
of  some,  even  before  the  subject  is  entered 
upon,  that  this  is  a  strange  topic  to  select  for  the 
consideration  of  professed  believers.     Acquaint- 


ACQUAINTANCE  WITH  GOD.  81 

ance  with  God! — are  we  not  all  acquainted 
with  God?  are  we  not  at  rest  to-day  from  our 
labors,  because  this  is  God's  Sabbath?  Are  we 
not  assembled  here,"because  this  is  God's  house? 
Are  we  not  now  disposed  to  listen  to  the  voice 
of  the  preacher,  simply  because  he  is  proclaim- 
ing God's  Word?  and  shall  we  be  told  to  ac- 
quaint ourselves  with  God,  when  we  thus  de- 
monstrate that  we  already  both  know  and  obey 
him?  In  the  first  ages  of  Christianity,  such  an 
argument  would  doubtless  have  been  unanswer- 
able; when  all  the  world  was  in  utter  igno- 
rance, or  in  avowed  hostility  to  the  God  of  the 
Bible,  you  would  not  have  ventured  to  have 
risked  all  which  you  must  have  risked  by  hal- 
lowing God's  Sabbath,  and  attending  his  tem- 
ple, and  listening  to  his  Word,  unless  you  had 
indeed  been  among  the  number  of  those  who 
were  willing  to  "count  all  things  but  loss  for 
the  excellency  of  the  knowledge  of  Christ  Jesus 
our  Lord;"  Philip,  iii,  8;  in  other  words,  unless 
you  had  been  truly  and  vitally  acquainted  with 
God.  At  the  present  day,  however,  things  are 
far  otherwise:  you  may  do  all  that  I  have  enu- 
merated; nay,  you  may  do  a  great  deal  more 
than  I  shall  or  can  enumerate,  and  yet  be  vir- 


82  ACQUAINTANCE  WITH  GOD. 

tually  as  ignorant  of  the  God  of  the  Christian, 
as  far  from  the  saving  knowledge  of  Him,  as 
the  poor  Indian,  who  "  sees  Him  in  clouds,  and 
hears  Him  in  the  winds." 

May  then  God  himself  be  present  with  us 
this  morning,  by  the  promised  power  of  his 
eternal  Spirit,  while  we  endeavor,  with  the  light 
of  his  revealed  Word,  to  point  out  to  you  two 
considerations,  connected  with  this  important 
subject  viz., 

I.  The  means;  and 

II.  The  season,  for  attaining  to  a  true,  a  Scrip- 
tural, and  a  saving  acquaintance  with  the  triune 
Jehovah. 

In  considering  the  means,  I  shall  chiefly  con- 
fine myself  to  the  two  great  and  prominent 
means  revealed  to  us  in  Scripture,  viz.,  through 
Christ,  by  the  Spirit;  only  briefly  alluding  to 
the  other  more  subordinate  methods  of  forming 
this  acquaintance. 

The  first  means,  then,  of  obtaining  this  know- 
ledge, is  through  the  mediation  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ. 

Now,  we  would  ask  those  among  you  who 
might  feel  disposed  to  acquiesce  in  the  objection, 
with  which  this  discourse  commenced,  viz.,  that 


ACQUAINTANCC  WITH  GOD.  83 

you  were  already  acquainted  with  God,  are  you 
acquainted  with  him  thus?  Do  you  know  God 
as  in  Christ  Jesus,  "reconciling  the  world  to 
himself,  not  imputing  their  trespasses  unto 
them?"  And  do  you  so  know  him — not  histo- 
rically and  generally,  as  all,  at  least  in  some  de- 
gree, know  him  who  are  born  and  educated  in  a 
Christian  country,  but  experimentally  and  indi- 
vidually, as  none  can  know  him,  unless  taught 
by  the  influence  of  his  own  good  Spirit;  as  re- 
conciling you  to  himself,  and  not  imputing  your 
trespasses  unto  you;  as  accepting,  pardoning, 
and  loving  you,  for  the  sake  of  his  dear  Son? 
If  you  can  answer  in  the  affirmative,  then,  bless- 
ed be  God,  you  have  indeed  entered  upon  an 
acquaintance  with  the  great  Jehovah,  which 
time  shall  not  interrupt,  nor  eternity  itself  de- 
stroy; you  who  are  already  thus  taught,  and 
thus  acquainted,  will  assuredly  bear  with  me, 
while  I  endeavor  to  lead  others  to  the  still  wa- 
ters, and  the  green  pastures,  where  you  have 
found  refreshment  and  repose;  for  while  you 
need  this  instruction  least,  you  will  probably  be 
among  the  number  of  those,  who  will  tolerate 
it,  and  love  it  most. 

I  proceed,  however,  to  address  myself  more 


84  ACQUAINTANCE  WITH  GOD. 

especially  to  you  who  are  conscious  of  no  such 
blessed  acquaintance,  and  I  would  endeavor 
shortly  to  show  you,  from  testimony  which  can- 
not be  refuted,  because  it  is  the  testimony  of  God 
himself,  that  the  very  first  step  to  acquaint  your- 
self with  God,  is  by  a  simple  coming  to,  or  be- 
lieving in,  Christ  Jesus.  '^  No  man  hath  seen 
God  at  any  time,"  said  our  blessed  Lord,  "  the 
only-begotten  Son,  which  is  in  the  bosom  of  the 
Father,  he  hath  declared  him."  "  If  ye  had 
known  me,  ye  should  have  known  my  Father 
also."  "He  that  hath  seen  me,  hath  seen  the 
Father."  "I  am  the  way,  the  truth,  and  the 
life;  no  man  cometh  unto  the  Father,  but  by 
me."  Your  acquaintance,  then,  with  God,  must 
be  commenced  at  the  foot  of  the  cross!  This  is 
the  prominent  truth  of  the  Bible;  the  truth, 
without  which,  all  other  truths  are  folly.  Seek 
an  acquaintance  with  God,  as  a  God  of  creation; 
search  for  him  among  the  wondrous  structures 
of  his  almighty  hand;  amidst  those  bright  lumi- 
naries which  he  has  hung  on  high,  as  trophies  of 
his  majesty  and  power;  amidst  the  beauteous 
scenes  which  he  has  spread  abroad  over  the  sur- 
face of  the  earth  which  we  inhabit,  as  testimo- 
nies to  his  benevolence  and  goodness;   amidst 


ACQUAINTANCE  WITH  GOD.  85 

the  beatings  of  a  tempestuous  sea,  or  the  glare 
of  the  Hghtning,  and  the  roar  of  thunder;  amidst 
the  elements  which  he  has  awakened  as  the  voice 
of  his  terrors  and  his  wrath;  and  what  will  be 
the  result?  you  will  return  from  the  contempla- 
tion, with  minds  only  baffled  and  confounded  by 
the  glories  you  have  beheld;  you  may  have  made 
acquaintance  with  nature,  but,  in  spite  of  the 
poet's  assertion,  you  will  have  made  none  with 
^'  Nature's  Cod."  You  may,  indeed,  in  this 
manner,  have  formed  some  indistinct  notions  of 
the  power,  the  majesty,  the  terrors  of  the  Al- 
mighty; but  all  his  other  attributes,  so  peculiarly 
affecting  to  the  human  soul,  his  forbearance,  his 
long-suffering  with  sin,  his  unwillingness  that 
any  should  perish,  his  mercy,  and  his  love,  will 
be  hidden  from  you  in  a  darkness  which  no 
human  eye  can  penetrate,  until  that  darkness 
is  illuminated  by  the  rays  which  flow^  from  the 
cross  of  the  Redeemer. 

This  is  the  reason,  the  plain,  intelligible  rea- 
son, why,  as  God's  own  Word  has  declared, 
"  the  world  by  wisdom  knew  not  God."  1  Cor. 
i,  21.  Strange,  indeed,  say  the  undue  exalters 
of  human  wisdom,  that  if  revelation  be  true, 
men  of  learning  and  science  should  so  often  be 
8 


86  ACQUAINTANCE  WITH  GOD. 

unbelievers;  strange  that  we  should  have  infidel 
historians,  infidel  mathematicians,  and  above 
all  infidel  astronomers,  and  infidel  anatomists; 
stranger  far,  replies  the  Christian,  if  they  were 
not  so,  when  the  unerring  Word  of  God  has 
proclaimed  this  everlasting  truth,  that  no  man 
can  come  to  the  Father,  but  by  Christ;  See  St. 
John,  xiv,  6.  The  men  of  whom  we  speak  have 
never  attempted  so  to  approach  God;  and  the 
consequence  is;  precisely,  what  the  Christian  is 
assured  by  God  that  it  should  be,  they  are  utter- 
ly and  altogether  unacquainted  with  God,  and 
take  their  puny  revenge  by  ridiculing  and  dis- 
crediting his  revelation  and  his  Word. 
*  I  would,  then,  address  every  individual  among 
you  who  is  conscious  that  he  is  not,  at  the  pre- 
sent moment,  savingly  acquainted  with  God,  and 
I  would  say  to  him.  Do  you  really  desire  to 
know  God,  to  know  him  in  such  a  manner  that 
you  shall  at  once  be  freed  from  all  slavish  fear 
of  him,  and  shall  love  him,  and  serve  him,  and 
delight  to  love  and  serve  him  now,  and  shall 
dwell  with  him  throughout  eternity?  Surely 
many  of  you  will  reply  from  the  ground  of  your 
hearts,  God  knows  that  I  do.  Then,  mark  well 
the   road  to   that  blessed  acquaintance — make 


ACQUAINTANCE  WITH  GOD.  87 

Jesus  Christ,  as  revealed  to  you  in  the  Gospel, 
the  first  step  in  your  approaches  to  the  Father; 
make  his  atonement  the  basis  of  your  friendship 
with  God.  He  freely  offers  to  reconcile  you  to 
God;  do  you  as  freely  accept  it?  Believe  that 
he  is  in  earnest  when  he  thus  ofi^rs;  and  plead 
his  merits,  and  his  righteousness  before  God  as 
a  reason  why  your  sins  should  be  forgiven,  and 
your  persons  accepted.  It  is  thus  that  your 
acquaintance  must  commence.  God  cannot  be 
acquainted  with  sinners.  Two  cannot  walk 
together,  says  the  Scriptures  of  truth,  unless  they 
be  agreed;  See  Amos,  iii,  3;  and  no  method  of 
agreement  has  ever  yet  been  offered  to  fallen 
man,  but  that  which  is  written  in  the  blood  of 
Christ.  This  is  the  plea  which  God  will  not, 
nay,  in  humility  be  it  spoken,  which  he  cannot 
reject,  because  it  is  the  plea  of  his  own  appoint- 
ment. God  has  declared  that  the  blood  of  his 
own  dear  Son  alone  cleanseth  from  all  sin,  that 
his  righteousness  is  "  unto  all,  and  upon  all  them 
that  believe.'^  If  you,  therefore,  thus  believe, 
God  views  you  no  longer  as  you  are  by  nature, 
but  as  you  have  become  by  grace.  He  sees 
you  as  washed  in  the  blood  of  the  Lamb — as 
clothed  in  the  righteousness  of  the  Redeemer. 


88  ACQUAINTANCE  WITH  GOD. 

His  perfect  obedience  spread  over  you  as  a  gar- 
ment, hiding  your  deformities,  veiling  your  sins. 
He  receives  you  as  a  pardoned  sinner;  nay, 
more,  as  an  adopted  child;  as  one  whom  he 
loves  with  an  everlasting  love,  and  has  bound 
to  him  by  an  everlasting  covenant.  He  has,  it 
is  true,  from  all  eternity  been  acquainted  with 
you,  but  now,  by  his  free  and  sovereign  grace, 
he  has  enabled  you  to  acquaint  yourself  with 
him,  and  be  at  peace. 

We  proceed  to  the  second  means  of  becoming 
acquainted  with  God.  "  Through  Him"  (i.  e. 
Christ),  says  the  inspired  Word,  "  we  both  have 
access  by  one  Spirit  unto  the  Father;  Eph.  ii, 
18. 

It  has  been  shown,  that  it  is  only  by  coming  to 
Christ  that  you  can  approach  God;  but  the  work 
would  be  left  unfinished  if  we  were  to  suffer 
you  to  depart  with  the  misapprehension  that  you 
could  even  thus  come  to  Christ  of  yourselves. 
"  God,  who  commanded  the  light  to  shine  out  of 
darkness  must  shine  into  your  hearts,"  to  give 
you  the  light  of  the  knowledge  of  "his  glory  in 
the  face  of  Jesus  Christ."  Before,  therefore,  you 
can  thus  come  to  Christ,  you  must  be  influenced 
by  the  power  of  the  Holy  Spirit.     "  No  man 


ACQUAINTANCE   WITH  GOD.  '  89 

can  come  to  me,  except  the  Father  who  hath 
sent  me  draw  him.'^  St.  John  vi,  44.  So  far 
from  even  desiring  to  acquaint  yourself  with 
God  until  this  be  done,  you  will  prefer  every 
body  and  every  thing  to  God  and  his  salvation. 
In  the  depraved  and  vitiated  state  of  your  natu- 
ral affections,  you  will  prefer  the  pleasures  of 
religion,  and  the  acquaintance  of  the  men  of 
the  world,  to  the  pleasures  of  religion,  and  the 
acquaintance  of  your  Maker; — and  I  put  it  to 
your  own  personal  experience  whether  you  do 
not  so.  Until  the  stony  heart  be  taken  away, 
and  the  heart  of  flesh  be  given,  you  will  have  no 
desire,  no  inclination,  to  draw  near  to  God;  the 
clearest  statements  of  divine  truth  will  be  un- 
heard; the  greatest  blessings  will  be  unimproved; 
the  heaviest  afiiictions  will  be  unsanctified.  But 
when  this  blessed  work  of  the  Divine  Spirit  is 
done;  when  the  heart  is  truly  converted  from 
the  world,  and  turned  to  God;  then,  indeed,  are 
you  enabled  to  close  with  the  gracious  offers  of 
your  Redeemer,  and  to  be  brought  by  Him,  as 
one  of  his  purchased  people,  to  the  footstool  of 
his  Father's  throne.  Then  will  such  an  acquain- 
tance be  established  with  the  High  and  Holy 
One  which  inhabiteth  eternity,  as  no  change  of 
8* 


90  ACQUAINTANCE  WITH  GOD. 

outward  circumstances,  no  tumult  of  inward 
anxieties,  shall  be  able  lastingly  to  interrupt, 
while  the  peace  of  God,  which  passeth  under- 
standing, shall  keep  your  hearts  and  minds  in 
the  knowledge  and  love  of  God,  and  of  his  Son, 
Jesus  Christ  our  Lord. 

These,  brethren,  are  the  two  essential  means 
of  acquainting  ourselves  with  God  by  Christ, 
through  the  Spirit;  time  would  fail  me,  were  I 
at  all  to  dwell  upon  the  many  and  valuable  sub- 
ordinate means  by  which  this  acquaintance  is 
best  promoted  and  enjoyed;  such,  for  example, 
as  the  daily  careful  searching  of  the  Word  of 
God,  with  holy  meditation  and  prayer;  the  fre- 
quent society  and  conversation  of  those  who  are 
already  best  acquainted  with  God,  among  your 
neighbors  and  friends;  the  constant  and  devout 
participation  in  that  holy  Sacrament  which 
Christ  has  ordained  in  his  Church,  and  which  is 
an  especial  means  of  "the  strengthening  and 
refreshing  of  our  souls  by  the  body  and  blood  of 
Christ,  as  our  bodies  are  by  the  bread  and 
wine;"  private  and  secret  prayer,  together  with 
contemplation  of  God's  goodness,  and  long-suf- 
fering, and  love  to  each  of  you  individually  in 
all  the  important  features  of  your  lives;  and, 


ACQUAINTANCE  WITH  GOD.  91 

though  last,  by  no  means  of  the  slightest  impor- 
tance, holy  walkhig  with  God  according  to  the 
light  which  you  possess,  which  will  tend  more 
than  almost  any  other  means  to  increase  your 
acquaintance,  and  to  heighten  your  intimacy, 
with  our  most  holy  and  heart  searching  God. 

II.  Leaving  these  suggestions  to  your  own 
private  consideration,  I  proceed  in  the  second 
place  to  bring  before  you  from  the  words  of 
the  text,  the  proper  season  for  making  this 
acquaintance.  What,  then,  you  will  perhaps 
inquire,  are  not  all  seasons  equally  proper  for 
this  great  work?  No,  brethren,  be  assured  that 
they  are  not.  If  you  doubt  me,  consider  well  the 
words  of  the  text.  "  Acquaint  thyself  now  with 
God,''  is  His  own  specific  message.  It  is  not 
in  general  terms,  "  acquaint  thyself  with  God;'^ 
neither  does  it  point  to  any  of  those  peculiar 
seasons  which  we  might  have  anticipated. 
"  Acquaint  thyself  with  God"  in  the  time  of 
trouble,  in  the  day  of  sorrow,  in  the  hour  of 
sickness;  or  when  old  age  advances,  and  other 
acquaintances  fall  away.  It  simply  says,  "Ac- 
quaint thyself  NOW  with  God,"  to-day,  as  soon 
as  you  hear  the  message ;  before  the  words  of 
the  preacher  die  upon  your  ear;  before  you 


92  ACQUAINTANCE  WITH  GOD. 

leave  this  house,  commence  upon  this  great  and 
blessed,  but  still  arduous  and  difficult,  underta- 
king. 

It  is  remarkable  how  imperative,  how  unde- 
viating  the  Word  of  God  is  upon  this  head  of 
our  discourse,  the  season  of  forming  our  ac- 
quaintance with  Him.  It  never,  that  I  am 
aware  of,  in  a  single  instance  throughout  the 
Avhole  book  of  inspiration,  speaks  of  any  season 
for  this  great  work,  but  the  present.  It  has,  in- 
deed, threatenings  which  regard  the  future,  and 
the  future  only;  it  has  also  promises  which 
regard  the  future,  and  the  future  only;  it  has 
joys  and  sorrows  which  regard  the  future  only, 
but  it  has  no  such  invitations;  it  has  not  a  single 
invitation  which  even  hints  at  any  other  season 
than  the  present;  most  plainly  intimating,  that 
while  you  are  perfectly  at  liberty  to  reject  the 
invitation  of  the  passing  hour,  God  Almighty 
holds  himself  equally  at  liberty  never  to  repeat 
it. 

Observe,  only,  how  strikingly  this  fact  is  illus- 
trated by  the  language  of  Scripture:  "Behold, 
now  is  the  accepted  time;  behold,  now  is  the 
day  of  salvation."  "Wherefore,"  as  the  Holy 
Ghost  saith,  "To-day  if  you  will  hear  his  voice, 


ACQUAINTANCE  WITH  GOD.  93 

harden  not  your  hearts/^  "Choose  you  this 
day  whom  you  will  serve."  And  perhaps 
more  remarkably  than  any  other,  in  a  text 
which  you  all  know,  but  which  is  generally 
misquoted,  "  Remember  thy  Creator  in  the  days 
of  thy  youth."  There  is  no  such  text  in  the 
Bible;  the  words  are,  and  you  may  find  them 
at  the  opening  of  the  12th  chapter  of  Ecclesi- 
astes,  "Remember  now  thy  Creator  in  the  days 
of  thy  youth;"  showing,  that  even  in  youth,  to 
which  the  largest  promises  are  made,  the  same 
remarkable  limitation  is  still  awarded.  Re- 
member God  in  thy  youth;  but  it  must  be  now, 
to-day. 

These  authorities,  and  it  would  be  easy  to 
multiply  them,  are  'fully  sufficient  to  demon- 
strate what  has  been  asserted,  that  the  only  sea- 
son spoken  of  in  God's  Word,  for  the  return 
and  conversion  of  a  sinner,  is  the  present.  God 
invariably  says.  Come  to  me  to-day;  it  is  the 
unrenewed  heart  of  stubborn  man  which  alone 
dares  to  reply,  "I  shall  wait  until  to-morrow." 

Is  it  not,  then,  a  fearful  thing  to  reflect  how 
many  there  may  be  among  us,  who  are  virtu- 
ally making  this  reply  at  the  present  moment. 
The  young — you  who  are  thinking.  When  I  am 


94  ACQUAINTANCE  WITH  GOD. 

a  little  older,  when  I  have  left  scho(^l,  when  I 
am  married  and  settled  in  the  world,  I  will 
really  endeavor  to  acquaint  myself  with  God, 
but  not  to-day.  Men  of  business — you  who 
are  resolving,  when  you  are  able  to  retire  from 
this  incessant  occupation,  or  when  you  have 
rather  less  of  worldly  callings  to  attend  to,  that 
you  will  acquaint  yourselves  with  God,  but  not 
to-day.  Parents — you  who  are  anticipating  the 
period  when  your  children  shall  have  grown 
up,  and  no  longer  form  the  great  impediment 
which  they  do  at  present,  while  engaging  so 
much  of  your  time  and  attention,  and  who  are 
fully  resolved  then  really  to  acquaint  yourselves 
with  God.  The  aged — you  who  are  thinking 
that  a  sick  bed  and  a  dying  hour,  will  be  fully 
sufficient  for  these  things,  and  that  then  you 
will  in  earnest  seek  them.  How  many  are  thus, 
looking  to  some  future  and  far  distant  period, 
how  few  are  saying,  to-day!  At  your  own 
time,  and  your  own  leisure,  you  imagine  that 
you  will  all  seek  after  God,  and  devote  your- 
selves far  more  earnestly,  and  unreservedly  to 
the  great  work  of  salvation  that  you  have  ever 
yet  found  the  time  or  the  inclination  to  do. 
My  brethren,  do  not,  I  beseech  you,  deceive 


ACQUAINTANCE  WITH  GOD.  95 


yourselves  thus;  such  resolutions  as  these  are 
as  nothing,  and  worse  than  nothing,  in  the  sight 
of  God.     There  is  only  one  Being  in  the  whole 
universe  who  can  approve  them,  for,  be  assured, 
there  is  only  one  being  who  will  ever  profit  by 
them — in  the  language  of  Scripture — "your  ad- 
versary, the  devil,  who  walketh  about,  seeking 
whom  he  may  devour."    If  you  desire  to  please 
him,  these  are  the  resolutions  which  delight  him 
most.     Yes,  we  firmly  believe  that  nothing  can 
more  rejoice  that  prince  of  darkness,  while  he 
sits  at  the  door  of  your  heart,  watching  its  secret 
workings,  and  ready  to  catch  the  seed  sown, 
than  to  observe  these  earnest  resolutions  of  a 
future  repentance,  a  future  acquaintance  with 
God,  a  future  devotedness  of  life  and  soul  to  the 
Redeemer.     He  cares  not  how  earnest  you  are 
in  these  promises  of  future  services.     He  would 
rather  you  were  in  earnest,  for  you  will  be  the 
less    likely  to    suspect,    that  such   resolutions 
should  be  fruitless.     He  will  himself  aid  you  in 
them,  and  volunteer  all  the  strength  and  the 
solemnity  that  he  can  throw  into  the  transac- 
tion; and  he  is  well  content  to  do  so.     If  you 
remain  his  bondsman  for  the  present,  you  may 
choose  your  own  master  for  the  future;  for  he 


96  ACQUAINTANCE  WITH  GOD. 

well  knows  that  the  future  will  one  day  become 
the  present,  and  that  when  it  does,  it  will  be  as 
easy  for  him  again  to  teach  you  to  postpone 
and  procrastinate,  aye,  every  additional  time  far 
more  easy  for  him  thus  to  cheat  and  to  delude 
you  than  it  is  to-day.  Satan  himself,  therefore, 
would  not  object  to  enforce  the  words  of  my 
text  upon  you,  if  he  might  but  change  one  little 
syllable;  if  he  might  but  expunge  the  word 
"now,"  and  read  it,  ^Acquaint  thyself  with  God 
to-morrow,'  it  would  forward  his  dreadful  cause 
more  effectually  than  a  thousand  common-place 
delusions.  0  how  that  juggling  fiend  is  laugh- 
ing to  scorn  the  man,  wise  in  his  own  conceit, 
who  is  now  engaged  in  suppressing  the  desire, 
which  has  been  just  awakened  for  an  immedi- 
ate change  of  heart  and  life,  and  is  most  gravely 
resolving  that  nothing  shall  prevent  a  future 
reformation. 

Upon  this  point,  then,  the  minister  of  Christ 
must  take  his  stand.  We  say  to  every  one 
among  you  who  is  not  at  present  devoted  to  the 
service  of  his  God,  acquaint  thyself  with  Him 
now;  to-day,  seek  access  to  God  by  Christ 
through  the  Spirit; — to-morrow  may  not  be 
yours,  or  if  it  be,  you  may  have  neither  the  will. 


ACQUAINTANCE  WITH  GOD.  97 

nor  the  power  to  improve  it.  Suffer  no  worldly- 
pleasure,  no  worldly  profits,  no  worldly  ridicule 
or  opinion,  to  keep  you  back  from  this  most  im- 
portant work.  Cleave  closely  to  God,  and  you 
may  defy  the  world;  its  voice  will  soon  be 
quenched  in  silence,  and  all  its  mockeries  be  for- 
gotten in  the  grave;  when  the  voice  of  Him 
whom  you  serve,  will  be  heard  in  the  accents  of 
commendation  and  love,  loud  as  the  trumpet  of 
the  archangel. 

And  if  there  be  any  one  among  you  "  whose 
heart  the  Lord  hath  opened  to  attend  to  the 
things  spoken"  this  morning,  and  who  is  saying. 
Would  that  I  could  believe  that  this  invitation 
were  addressed  to  me;  would  that  I  might  hope 
that  God  would  admit  me  to  the  blessedness  of 
his  acquaintance,  and  to  the  enjoyment  of  his 
pardoning  love;  I  would  not  wait  for  a  to- 
morrow, which  may  never  come;  I  would 
indeed  go  this  day,  this  hour,  this  instant, 
and  throw  myself  in  penitence  and  faith  at  the 
foot  of  the  cross,  and  there  seek  acquaintance 
with  the  God  of  all  consolation.  My  brother, 
if  such  an  one  there  be,  to  you  are  the  words  of 
this  salvation  sent.  Have  you  grievously  sinned 
and  fallen  away  from  God?  He  is  ready  to 
9 


98  ACQUAINTANCE  WITH  GOD. 

heal  the  breach  this  day.  Are  you  yet  in  dark- 
ness? He  is  willing  this  day  to  say,  "  Let  there 
be  light."  Are  your  offences  so  numerous  that 
you  are  ashamed  to  look  up,  and  have  you 
rejected  so  many  invitations  that  you  have  no 
hope  you  should  to-day  be  accepted?  hear  the 
word  of  the  Lord:  "  Come  now,  and  let  us 
reason  together,  saith  the  Lord;  though  your 
sins  be  as  scarlet,  they  shall  be  as  white  as  snow; 
though  they  be  red  like  crimson,  they  shall  be 
as  wool."  Isaiah  i,  18.  Cast  yourself,  there- 
fore, unreservedly,  on  the  love  of  God  to  you  in 
Christ  Jesus;  offer  a  single  faithful  fervent  prayer, 
*•  God  be  merciful  to  me  a  sinner,"  and  you 
shall  speedily  experience  the  soul-satisfying 
reply,  "  Him  that  cometh  unto  me  I  will  in  no 
wise  cast  out."  St.  John,  vi,  37. 


99 


SERMON  VI. 

GOD  MARKING  INIQUITY. 


Psalm  cxxx  3,  4. 


"IF  THOU,  LORD,  SHOULDEST  MARK  INIQUITIES,  O  LORD, 
WHO  SHALL  STAND  ?  BUT  THERE  IS  FORGIVENESS 
WITH  THEE." 

There  are  seasons  when  every  man,  whose 
heart  has  been  in  any  degree  convinced  of  sin, 
beholds  his  iniquities  with  feelings  of  regret  and 
consternation  peculiarly  vivid.  Times  of  trial, 
times  of  affliction,  but  above  all,  times  of  prayer, 
when  he  is  led  into  closer  communion  with  his 
God,  are  pre-eminently  among  those  seasons. 
Sins,  which  at  other  periods  but  little  affect  him, 
which  he  can  pass  over  almost  without  a  sigh  or 
a  thought,  are  then  brought  up  in  terrible  array 
before  the  soul,  and  for  a  few  moments  the  man 
is  almost  lost  in  astonishment  at  his  own  auda- 
city and  blindness.     While,  if  he  carry  on  the 


100  GOD  MARKING  INIQUITY. 

feeling,  if  he  turn  from  looking  inward  to  look- 
ing upward,  from  thinking  of  what  he  knows  of 
himself  to  what  God  knows  of  him,  he  is  unable 
to  find  expressions  sufficiently  strong  with  which 
to  describe  his  own  perversity  and  worthless- 
ness.  He  feels  as  if  such  a  being  as  himself 
could  have  no  right  to  pray;  as  if  one  who  had 
sinned  so  often,  so  long,  so  wilfully,  were  adding 
to  his  guilt,  by  presuming  thus  to  come  before 
God ;  and  he  is  almost  tempted  to  doubt  whether 
utter  silence,  utter  neglect  of  all  prayer,  would 
not  more  become  him,  than  any  language,  how- 
ever contrite  or  however  Fmmble. 

Reflections  of  a  very  similar  nature  to  these, 
appear  to  have  been  passing  through  the  mind 
of  the  Psalmist  when  he  penned  the  words  of 
the  text.  He  was  evidently,  in  the  opening 
verses  of  the  psalm,  addressing  the  Almighty, 
during  some  period  of  deep  affliction,  in  earnest, 
fervent  supplication;  he  says,  "  Out  of  the  depths 
have  I  cried  unto  thee,  0  Lord;  Lord,  hear  my 
voice;  let  thine  ears  be  attentive  to  the  voice  of 
my  supplication:"  and  then,  as  if  oppressed  by 
the  weight  of  his  numberless  transgressions, 
borne  down  by  the  burden  of  his  many  sins,  he 
exclaims,  "  If  thou.  Lord,  shouldest  mark  iniqui- 


GOD  MARKING  INIQUITY.  101 

ties,  0  Lord,  who  shall  stand?"  Then,  again, 
recovering  himself  from  this  overwhelming  con- 
sciousness of  guilt,  he  adds,  his  very  prayer,  as 
it  were,  gasping  for  breath,  "  But  there  is  for- 
giveness with  thee." 

The  deep  feeling  of  utter  sinfulness  and  worth- 
lessness,  so  strikingly  displayed  by  the  Psalmist, 
does  not  merely  mark  a  particular  stage  of  reli- 
gious feeUng,  it  lies  at  the  very  root  of  religion 
itself;  there  is  no  vital  godliness  without  it,  it  is 
its  universal  accompaniment.  Let  us  then  medi- 
tate, for  a  short  time,  upon  the  expressions 
before  us,  in  the  hope,  and  with  the  prayer,  that 
by  God's  grace  they  may  work  that  in  us,  which 
they  so  clearly  and  so  touchingly  evidenced  in 
the  holy  and  devoted  David. 

I.  First,  then,  let  us  learn  what  is  implied  in 
the  words  before  us,  viz: — That  the  Lord  is  a 
God  who  marks  iniquity;  and, 

II.  What  is  directly  asserted,  "  But  there  is 
forgiveness  with  thee." 

I.  There  is  not  a  more  awful  consideration 
than  that  which  we  learn  by  implication  from 
the  text.  Whether  we  consider  God  as  a  Being 
of  infinite  power,  or  of  infinite  purity,  the 
thought  is  equally  solemn,  equally  appalling. — 


102  GOD  MARKING  INIQUITY. 

That  there  has  been  One,  standing  over  us,  ever 
since  we  were  born,  and  marking  in  pages, 
which  we  cannot  obUterate,  every  sinful  action, 
every  unholy  word,  every  false,  and  profane,  and 
unchaste,  and  uncharitable  thought;  and  that  as 
time  goes  on,  this  marking  goes  on  also;  that 
there  is  an  eye  never  closed,  an  ear  never  dull, 
a  hand  never  wearied,  all  engaged  in  this  great 
work.  We  look  backward,  perhaps,  through  a 
long  vista  of  departed  years,  and  although  we 
have  a  certain  undenied,  and  indistinct  con- 
sciousness, that  many  sins  are  mingling  there, 
we  have  forgotten  most  of  their  peculiarities,  and 
much  that  added  inconceivably  to  their  guilt, 
while  He  who  marks"  iniquity,  has  forgotten 
nothing;  He  sees  every  trace  and  every  linea- 
ment as  clearly  and  as  distinctly,  as,  in  the  first 
hour  of  their  commission,  they  were  seen  and 
felt  by  ourselves,  and  the  effect  of  this  know- 
ledge of  the  Most  High  is,  that  it  is  impos- 
sible for  man,  sinful,  helpless  man,  to  stand 
before  God.  For  although  the  Psalmist  makes 
a  question  of  il,  asking,  "Who  shall  stand.?"  it 
is  just  one  of  those  questions  which  imply  the 
strongest,  and  the  surest  assertion;  it  is  as  if  he 
had  said," Lord,  thou  dost  so  mark  iniquities. 


GOD  MARKING  INIQUITY.  103 

that  I  am  utterly  unable  to  stand;"  or,  as  the 
same  man  elsewhere  expresses  it, "  My  iniquities 
have  taken  such  hold  of  me,  that  I  am  unable  to 
look  up."  And  shall  any  one  venture  to  assert, 
that  this  is  too  deep  a  view  to  take  of  our  iniqui- 
ties?— is  it  a  deeper  view  than  God  is  at  this 
moment  taking  of  every  unrepented  sin,  which 
he  has  recorded  against  every  individual  now 
present  before  him? 

No,  brethren,  where  we  all  fail,  is  not  in  set- 
ting these  things  in  too  dark,  but  in  too  faint  a 
light;  not  in  painting  them  with  too  strong,  but 
with  too  weak  and  feeble  a  touch.  Could  we 
see  our  own  sins  as  God  sees  them,  we  verily 
believe  that  the  sight  would  instantaneously  be 
productive  of  one  or  other  of  these  two  conse- 
quences— it  would  either  drive  us  to  despera- 
tion, or  it  would  send  us  to  a  Saviour.  There 
could  be  no  middle  course,  no  resting  place  short 
of  this  would  allay  the  agony  of  our  souls.  Men 
may  talk  lightly,  and  think  lightly,  and  careless- 
ly of  sin,  who  have  never  felt  the  anguish  of 
remorse,  the  pangs  of  a  convicted  conscience,  or 
have  never  seen  the  dreadful  cost  of  a  Saviour's 
tear,  and  of  a  Saviour's  blood,  at  which  its  par- 
don was  purchased;  but  let  the  Spirit  of  God 


104  GOD  MARKING  INIQUITY. 

only  for  one  hour,  set  home  upon  the  heart  the 
true  and  scriptural  sight  of  sin  unrepented,  and 
sin  unforgiven,  and  the  longest  day  to  which 
your  mortal  life  may  be  extended,  will  never 
cast  the  vail  of  forgetfulness  over  that  hour  of 
suffering. 

Think  only  of  the  anguish,  the  bitter  anguish, 
which  you  feel  when  you  reflect  upon  any  sin- 
gle act,  by  which  you  have  offended  an  earthly 
relative,  a  father,  a  mother,  a  wife,  or  child, 
over  whom  the  grave  has  darkened,  and  who  is 
now  past  hearing  your  regrets,  and  past  forgiv- 
ing them.  It  is  in  vain  you  reason  with  your- 
self, that  were  they  here,  they  would  kindly 
re-assure  you  of  their  pardon,  they  would  affec- 
tionately convince  you  that  you  never  willingly 
injured  them,  never  wilfully  grieved  them.  It 
is  in  vain;  the  regret  will  follow  you,  and  rea- 
son itself  is  insufficient  to  quiet  or  to  dismiss  it. 
Such,  then,  is  a  faint,  faint  emblem  of  the  suf- 
fering, which  the  soul,  when  once  really  awak- 
ened to  a  sense  of  its  having  offended  a  departed 
God,  even  here  often  endures.  It  is  not  the 
consciousness  of  its  danger  which  oppresses  it, 
but  its  ingratitude,  its  unworthiness,  the  hateful 
return  it  has  been  making  for  love,  so  true,  so 


GOD  MARKING  INIQUITY.  105 

tender,  so  unbounded.  This  it  is  which  makes 
the  awakened  sinner,  in  the  first  hours  of 
thoughtfulness  and  reflection,  the  wretched,  suf- 
fering being,  we  sometimes  see  him.  When  it 
pleases  a  merciful  God  that  this  efl'ect  is  wrought, 
while  time,  and  grace,  and  opportunity  are  all 
his  own,  it  is  but  the  "light  afiiiction"  which  is 
working  for  him  the  "  far  more  exceeding  and 
eternal  weight  of  glory.''  But  when  reflection, 
when  anguish  for  sin,  for  the  first  time  come 
upon  a  dying  bed,  when  they  add  their  pangs 
to  the  hour  of  nature's  suff'ering;  when  the 
poor,  bewildered,  and  frightened  soul  gazes 
wildly  around,  its  eye  opening  at  once  to  all  the 
fearful  prospects  that  surround  it;  the  grave 
before  it,  an  existence  unknown,  unfathomed, 
stretching  away  into  the  infinity  that  lies  be- 
yond it;  and  all  behind,  sin  unrepented,  sin  un- 
thought  of,  sin  unforgiven,  who  can  recount  the 
sufferings,  who  can  come  back  to  tell,  the  an- 
guish of  that  hour. 

If  by  agreeing  to  pass  over  these  things  in 
silence,  if  by  leaving  the  mind  free  and  undis- 
turbed, we  could  make  a  compromise  with  God, 
and  obtain  from  him  the  assurance  that  your 
sins  should  never  be  mentioned  to  you,  never 


106  GOD  MARKING  INIQUITY. 

thus  brought  so  painfully  to  mind,  it  might  be 
more  humane  to   do  so,  and  be  assured  we 
would  not  draw  aside  the  veil  which  hides  them 
from  your  sight.     Far  pleasanter  would  it  be  to 
us,  as  ministers,  as  men,  to  help  you  to  forget, 
than  thus  to  compel  you  to  remember;  for,  be- 
lieve me,  there  are  few  things  so  painful  to  a 
Christian  minister,  feeling,  as  he  does,  that  every 
word  which  condemns  another,  condemns  also 
himself,  as  thus  to   force   your  long-forgotten 
transgressions  back  upon  your  recollection,  and 
oblige  you  to  retrace  the  characters  of  shame, 
and  guilt,  in  which  they  stand  recorded  against 
yon.     But,  brethren,  sooner  or  later  it  must  be 
done;  take  this  for  a  truth  as  certain  as  the  be- 
ing of  a  God,  or  the  existence  of  an  universe, 
that  you,  and  your  unrepented  sins,  must  one 
day  meet,  and  the  longer  that  day  is  delayed, 
the  sadder  will  be  the  meeting,  the  more  terrible 
the  hour,  when  you  and  they  shall  come  toge- 
ther.    The  only  choice  which  God  has  given 
you  in  this  solemn  matter  is  this — the  time  and 
the  place  of  your  meeting.     Your  sins  must  be 
met  now,  during  the  day  of  God's  pardoning 
mercy,  or  hereafter,  during  the  day  of  God's 
uncompromising  judgment. 


GOD  MARKING  INIQUITY.  107 

Raise,  then,  we  beseech  you,  one  heartfelt 
prayer  to  God,  that  to-day  may  be  the  time, 
and  this  the  hour,  and  this  the  place,  in  which 
you  and  your  unrepented  sins  may  meet  for  the 
last  time.  "Quit  you  like  men,"  fly  not  now 
from  enemies,  with  which  you  must  one  day 
meet  in  deadly  struggle.  Call  them  up  now  as 
spectres  in  the  memory,  the  long,  long  list  of 
those  worst  enemies  of  your  soul,  and  of  your 
God.  The  many  years  of  thoughtless,  God- 
forgetting  youth,  the  sad  additions  of  licentious 
manhood,  the  forgotten  prayers,  the  broken 
Sabbaths,  the  neglected  commands  of  Him,  who 
ought  to  have  had  your  best  obedience.  The 
meeting,  be  it  when  it  may,  can  never  be  a 
peaceful  one,  the  conflict  cannot  be  a  slight  one; 
there  is  no  compromise,  it  must  be  war  even  to 
the  death:  either  your  sins,  or  you,  must  perish. 
The  question,  then,  we  ask  you,  as  in  the  pre- 
sence and  in  the  name  of  God,  is  this — You 
behold  your  unrepented  sins  drawn  up  in  ter- 
rible array  before  you,  are  you  willing  to  sacri- 
fice them  at  God's  bidding,  to  slay  them  at  his 
altar,  to  renounce  every  lingering  desire  after 
them,  and  to,  for  ever,  cast  them  from  you? 
Flesh  and  blood  cannot  answer  this  in  the 


108  GOD  MARKING  INIQUITY. 

affirmative;  of  yourself  you  cannot  do  it,  but 
you  can  do  all  things  through  Christ  strengthen- 
ing you.     He  is  as  near  you  at  this  moment,  as 
your  sins  are.     He  stands  beside  the  ranks  of 
those  your  worst  and  most  appalling  enemies, 
and  one  heartfelt,  earnest,  faithful   prayer  to 
him,  one  strong  resolution,  the  effort  of  his  own 
grace,  to  cast  yourself  at  once  upon  Him,  and 
the  victory  is  insured.      His  own  right  hand 
shall  bring  deliverance,  and  like  the  Israelites  of 
old,  "the  enemies  which  you  have  seen  to-day, 
you  shall  see  them  again  no  more  for  ever." 
Do  you  hesitate?     Do  you  feel — I  am  willing  to 
do  this  with  some,  with  many,  but  not  with  all; 
I  am  desirous  to  repent  of  much,  to  give  up 
much,  to  forego  and  abstain  from  much,  but  I 
must  still  retain  my  favorite  sin,  my  heart  sin, 
my  besetting  lust;  all  else  I  will  surrender,  all 
else  I  will  immolate,  but  my  pride,  my  vanity, 
my  covetousness,  or  my  worldliness,  I  cannot, 
and  I  will  not  utterly  forsake.     Then,  brethren 
— and  let  not  that  seem  harsh  which  a  God  of 
love  commands  us  to  declare — all  else  will  be 
in  vain;   the  same  long  train  of  evil  spirits, 
which,  spectre  like,  are  now  passing  from  before 
you,  and  fast  fading  from  your  memory,  will  all 


GOD  MARKING  INIQUITY.  109 

one  day  return;  you  shall  see  them,  and  recog- 
nise them  again ;  but  not  as  at  this  hour,  when 
by  God's  promised  aid,  yours  might  be  the  mas- 
tery, but  on  a  day  when  theirs  shall  be  the  vic- 
tory and  the  triumph,  yours  the  humiliation  and 
the  defeat.  When  next  you  meet,  it  shall  be 
before  the  tribunal  of  your  Judge,  they  to  ac- 
cuse and  to  condemn  you,  and  you  unable  to 
disavow  them;  united  together,  the  sinner  and 
his  sins,  in  bonds  of  iron,  from  which  even  the 
fires  of  eternity  shall  never  separate  you. 

But  God  forbid  that  this  should  be  applicable 
to  any  soul  amongst  us.  Rather  let  us  hope 
that  but  one  feeling  pervades  your  hearts,  the 
feeling  of  inextinguishable  hate,  of  unceasing 
warfare,  against  those  worst  and  deadliest  ene- 
mies. That  although  you  know  you  have 
sinned  grievously,  and  continually;  you  do, from 
your  very  souls  lament  these  sins,  and  abhor 
yourself  for  their  committal.  We  trust  that  by 
the  grace  of  God's  good  Spirit,  the  feeling  with 
which  many  are  this  day  hearing  of  their  trans- 
gressions, assumes  something  of  this  character. 
Deep  and  numerous  although  my  sins  have 
been,  I  have  desired,  and  I  do,  above  all  earthly 
things,  desire  their  absence  and  their  pardon. 
10 


l!M>  GOD  MARKING  INIQUITr. 

No  slave  condemned  to  toil  in  fetters  in  the 
mine,  no  chained  wretch  devoted  to  the  cease- 
less labors  of  the  galley,  ever  more  ardently 
longed  for  his  deliverance,  or  prayed  more  fer- 
vently for  freedom,  than  I  to  be  separated  from 
my  sins,  to  burst  asunder  their  chains,  and  to  be 
freed  from  them  for  ever.  I  hate  them  because 
they  have  injured  me,  but  I  hate  them  tenfold 
more  because  they  have  injured  God,  the  God 
of  all  my  mercies,  the  Saviour  who  died  for  me, 
the  Holy  Spirit  who  has  striven  unceasingly 
with  me,  through  years  of  opposing  ingratitude, 
and  who  is  even  now  pleading  and  struggling 
for  God  within  my  bosom.  To  be  freed  from 
such  enemies,  from  such  a  burden,  what  is  there 
upon  earth,  I  would  not  willingly  and  cheerfully 
resign? 

To  all,  the  language  of  whose  hearts  is  such, 
we  are,  thanks  be  to  God,  not  only  permitted, 
but  commanded,  to  testify  of  that  blessed  truth 
conveyed  to  us  in  the  conclusion  of  the  text. 
^'But  there  is  forgiveness  with  thee."  Yes, 
brethren,  there  is  forgiveness  with  God,  the 
power  to  forgive,  the  readiness  to  forgive,  nay 
more,  the  strong  desire  to  forgive;  for  his  own 
Word  declares  that  "He  willethnot  the  death  of 


GOD  MARKING  INIQUITY.  Ill 

a  sinner,  but  rather  that  he  should  turn  from  his 
wickedness  and  live."  Who  can  describe  the 
unspeakable  comfort  which  is  imparted  to  the 
penitent  sinner's  heart,  by  the  reflection  that  he 
has  to  do  with  one,  who  is  anxious  to  forgive, 
yea,  far  more  anxious,  than  the  most  heart- 
broken and  imploring  sinner  is,  to  be  forgiven. 

You  may,  perhaps,  remember,  in  the  history 
of  one  of  the  kings  of  our  own  country,  that 
when  some  guilty  man,  who  had  joined  in  rebel- 
lion against  him,  was  brought  into  his  presence, 
he  endeavored  to  prevail  upon  him  to  commu- 
nicate the  intentions  of  his  accomplices,  by 
reminding  him  of  the  prospect  which  lay  before 
him,  in  these  words: — "  Remember  it  is  in  my 
power  to  forgive."  "  Yes,"  answered  the 
unhappy  man,  who  knew  the  character  of  him 
to  whom  he  spake,  "  It  is  in  your  power  to  for- 
give, but  it  is  not  in  your  nature  to  do  so."  How 
different  when  you  look  at  the  King  of  kings, 
against  whom,  even  the  best  amongst  us  has 
rebelled  for  years  and  years  in  succession.  Had 
it  merely  been  revealed  to  us  that  it  was  in 
God's  power  to  forgive,  small  would  be  the 
comfort  of  the  desponding  sinner's  heart;  but 
the  same  Word  which  assures  us  that  there  is 


112  GOD  MARKING  INIQUITY. 

forgiveness  in  God's  power,  assures  also  that  there 
is  forgiveness  in  his  nature,  for  does  it  not  declare, 
that  "  He  is  faithful  and  just  to  forgive  us  our 
sins,  and  to  cleanse  us  from  all  unrighteousness?" 
All  he  asks,  and  all  you  need,  to  enable  you  to 
be  a  partaker  of  this  forgiveness,  is  simply  to 
apply  for  it,  in  the  way  which  he  himself  has 
pointed  out;  that  "  new  and  living  way,"  as  the 
Apostle  calls  it,  "  by  the  blood  of  Jesus." 

How  great  and  how  numerous  are  the  errors 
of  Christians,  yes,  even  partially  enlightened 
Christians,  upon  this  important  point!  Some 
among  you,  are  in  all  probability  carrying  about 
with  you  a  burden  of  unforgiven  sin,  checked 
and  frustrated  in  all  your  approaches  to  God, 
because  you  will  not  believe  Him  upon  his 
Word,  will  not  accept  his  promises;  it  is  in  vain 
that  he  assures  you,  in  language  which  nothing 
can  strengthen,  of  his  willingness  to  forgive;  in 
vain  he  multiplies  and  re-multiplies  terms  to 
convey  the  fact  of  the  entireness,  as  well  as  the 
freeness  of  this  forgiveness,  speaking  of  it  at 
one  time  as  a  "  blotting  out  of  sin,"  at  another, 
as  a  "  covering  of  sin,"  and  again,  "  as  casting 
it  behind  his  back,"  and  "  into  the  depths  of  the 
sea."     Still  you  are  hard  to  learn  the  gracious 


GOD  MARKING  INIQUITY.  113 

lesson, "  slow  of  heart  to  believe"  the  fulness 
and  the  completeness  of  the  forgiveness  of  God, 
treasured  up  for  every  penitent  and  believing 
sinner  in  Christ  Jesus.  You  deeply  repent,  you 
pray  earnestly  for  pardon,  you  seek  the  atoning 
blood  of  Christ,  you  forsake  those  things  that 
you  have  repented  of,  and  yet  you  feel  no  com- 
plete reliance,  no  perfect  assurance,  that  all  has 
been  forgiven,  and  that  you  are  at  this  hour,  for 
Christ's  sake,  a  pardoned  sinner,  an  accepted 
child.  Surely  this  is  acting  ungratefully  by  God; 
what  is  the  desire  of  his  heart?  to  see  his  chil- 
dren happy.  Well  then,  instead  of  honoring 
God  by  a  mock  humility,  you  frustrate  his  de- 
sire, you  grieve  his  Spirit,  when  you  refuse  to 
accept,  as  freely  as  God  offers.  Forgiveness, 
instead  of  lying,  as  too  many  imagine,  at  the 
end  of  the  Christian  course,  lies  at  the  very  be- 
ginning. It  is  the  first  step  in  the  walk  of  the 
new-born  child  of  God.  The  real  course  of  the 
Christian  commences  from  the  day  when  he  is 
made  one  with  Christ,  and  Christ  with  him,  and 
when  he  becomes  partaker  of  God's  pardoning 
love.  At  that  hour  you  are  a  forgiven  sinner, 
your  sentence  of  condemnation  is  reversed; 
God  is  at  peace  with  you,  and  you  with  him, 
10* 


114  GOD  MARKING  INIQUITY. 

and  every  thing  that  has  gone  before,  is  blotted 
from  his  book  for  ever;  as  the  Apostle  to  the 
Ephesians  expresses  it,  "  God,  for  Christ's  sake 
HATH  forgiven  you.'' 

May  God  grant  that  if  we  address  one  who 
has  hitherto  lived  practically  ignorant  of  these 
great  and  blessed  truths,  they  may  this  day  be 
fastened  upon  his  heart,  that  he  may  leave  the 
house  of  his  Creator,  Redeemer,  and  Sanctifier, 
a  holier  and  a  happier  being  than  he  entered  it; 
that  he  may  be  enabled  to  say  with  Job, "  I  have 
heard  of  thee  by  the  hearing  of  the  ear,  but 
now  mine  eye  seeth  thee;"  and  may  that  bless- 
edness be  his  abiding  portion,  to  which  the 
Psalmist  alludes  when  he  says,  "  Blessed  is  the 
man  whose  transgression  is  forgiven,  whose  sin 
is  covered:  blessed  is  the  man  unto  whom  the 
Lord  imputeth  no  sin"  now,  and  upon  whom, 
for  the  sake  of  our  adorable  Redeemer,  he  shall 
visit  no  sin  hereafter. 


115 


SERMON  VII. 

THE  SAINT'S  CONFESSION. 


Hebrews  xi,  13. 


"THESE  ALL  CONFESSED  THAT  THEY  WERE  STRANGERS 
AND  PILGRIMS  ON  THE  EARTH." 


How  brief,  yet  how  remarkable  a  confession! 
and  to  whom  does  it  apply?  To  Abel,  to  Enoch, 
to  Noah,  and  to  Abraham,  and  to  Sarah,  and 
to  Isaac,  and  to  Jacob,  and  to  all  the  family  of 
the  faithful.  Yes,  my  brethren,  "  these  all  con- 
fessed," says  the  Apostle,  after  having  enume- 
rated a  goodly  number  of  the  family  of  God, 
"  that  they  were  strangers  and  pilgrims  on  the 
earth."  It  was  then  the  confession,  and  we  can 
show  that  it  ever  has  been,  and  ever  must  be, 
the  confession  of  the  children  of  God,  in  all 
places  and  at  all  times.  Throughout  the  large 
and  blessed  family  of  the  Redeemer,  one  cha- 
racteristic, one  distinguishing  feature  is  ever  visi- 


116  THE  saint's  CONFESSION. 

ble.  They  are  not  of  tlie  world,  even  as  he  was 
not  of  the  world.  Whatever  be  their  ages, 
whatever  be  their  circumstances,  this  is  true  of 
them  all.  If  there  ever  had  been  an  individual, 
who  might  have  felt  himself  in  some  degree  at 
home  upon  earth,  it  certainly  was  Abraham, 
when  in  the  country  which  was  given  to  him, 
and  to  his  heirs  for  ever,  by  God  himself;  yet  in 
what  terms  does  the  inspired  writer  speak  of  him 
in  this  country,  thus  supernaturally  made  over 
to  him,  "  Abraham  sojourned  in  the  land  of  pro- 
mise, as  in  a  strange  country."  Hebrews,  xi,  9. 
Even  in  the  land  of  his  inheritance,  he  never 
felt  himself  at  home.  The  same,  also,  was  the 
confession  of  Moses:  "I  have  been  a  stranger 
in  a  strange  land;"  Exodus,  ii,  22;  so  again, 
David,  in  the  midst  of  the  most  ample  posses- 
sions, reigning  over  a  wealthy  and  populous 
kingdom,  anointed  to  the  government,  and  esta- 
blished in  it  by  the  visible  appointment  of  God 
himself,  expressed  precisely  the  same  feeling: 
"I  am  a  stranger  with  thee,  and  a  sojourner,  as 
all  ray  fathers  were,"  Psalm,  xxxix,  12;  is  the 
confession  of  his  heart;  whilst,  as  a  last  exam- 
ple, the  highest  and  the  best,  we  find  even  our 
blessed  Saviour  himself,  the  Lord  of  heaven  and 


117 

earth,  during  his  visit  in  the  flesh  to  this  land  of 
sin  and  sorrow,  exclaiming,  "  I  am  not  of  this 
world,"  St.  John,  xvii,  16;  realising  what  the 
Psalmist  had  before  declared  of  him,  that  he 
should  be  a  "  stranger  among  his  brethren,  and 
an  alien  among  his  mother's  children."  He 
indeed  passed  through  the  world,  but  it  was 
only  to  sanctify  it  as  the  place  of  his  people's 
service;  his  heart  and  his  constant  residence 
were  not  here,  to  fix  it  as  their  place  of  rest. 
We  see,  then,  that  the  declaration  of  the  text  is 
not  an  isolated  passage,  uncorroborated  by  the 
general  tenor  of  Holy  Writ,  but  a  truth  which  the 
experience  and  the  confessions  of  the  people  of 
God,  of  every  age,  fully  establish  and  confirm. 

Let  us  earnestly  implore  the  Divine  blessing, 
and  the  Divine  presence,  while  we  meditate 
upon  those  peculiar  terms  by  which  the  children 
of  God  are  here  portrayed. 

I.  They  confessed  themselves  to  be  "  stran- 
gers upon  earth."  For  the  sake  of  confining 
ourselves  more  closely  to  the  immediate  subject 
before  us,  let  us  examine  the  simple  definition  of 
the  term ; — a  stranger  is  a  foreigner,  a  person 
born  in  some  other  country,  and  who  is  for  the 


tl3 

present  separated  from  his  kindred,  his  inheri- 
tance, and  his  home. 

Observe,  then,  at  once,  the  reason  for  the  ap- 
phcation  of  the  name;  observe  the  Apostle's 
motive  for  recording  the  simple  fact,  that  all  the 
good  and  holy  men  of  whom  he  had  been 
speaking,  unite  in  the  confession  of  the  text. 
The  people  of  God  confess  themselves  strangers, 
because,  speaking  in  a  spiritual  sense,  they  are 
not  born  here;  this  is  not  their  native  country. 
"  That  which  is  born  of  the  flesh  is  flesh,  and 
that  which  is  born  of  the  Spirit  is  spirit,"  are 
the  words  of  our  Lord.  From  the  moment  that 
they  are  born  of  God,  created  anew  by  the 
Spirit,  they  take  up  the  confession  of  the  text, 
because  from  that  moment,  their  hearts  have 
taken  up  the  feelings  from  which  it  flowed; 
They  have  become  "  partakers  of  the  Divine 
nature,"  and  the  renewed  heart  turns  constantly, 
unceasingly  turns,  to  the  land  of  its  nativity, 
and  the  man  becomes  "  a  new  creature  in  Christ 
Jesus,"  becomes  also  a  stranger  and  a  foreigner 
upon  earth,  a  sincere  aspirant  after  the  joys  of 
heaven. 

Again,  as   the   people  of  God  are  strangers 


THE  saint's  confession.  119 

upon  earth,  because  it  is  not  the  land  of  their 
nativity,  so  also  are  they  strangers,  because  their 
inheritance  is  not  here. 

"Blessed  be  the  God  and  father  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  which  according  to  his  abundant 
mercy,  hath  begotten  us  again  unto  a  lively  hope 
by  the  resurrection  of  Jesus  Christ  from  the 
dead,  to  an  inheritance  incorruptible,  utidefiled, 
and  that  fadeth  not  away,  reserved  in  heaven 
for  you."  Our  Heavenly  father,  therefore,  has 
chosen  to  give  us  our  inheritance  "where 
Christ  sitteth  at  the  right  hand  of  God."  He 
might  have  made  the  present  world,  and  the 
present  order  of  things,  available,  had  he  so 
pleased,  to  his  people's  happiness;  but  so  far  is 
this  from  being  the  fact,  that  an  apostle  has  as- 
serted, "  If  in  this  life  only  we  have  hope  in 
Christ,  we  are  of  all  men  most  miserable."  At 
the  very  best,  the  present  world  is  a  mere  place 
of  common  entertainment,  an  inn  where  friends 
and  enemies,  kindred  and  aliens  all  partake  of 
the  same  cheer.  Very  different  will  be  our 
Father's  house;  into  that,  none  but  his  children, 
his  purchased,  pardoned  children  will  be  admit- 
ted, and  all  who  are  admitted,  will  receive  the 


120 

fulness  of  blessedness,  and  an  eternal  weight  of 
glory,  and  happiness,  and  joy. 

Further,  the  people  of  God  are  strangers  upon 
earth,  because  their  kindred  are  not  here. — 
Where  the  child's  father  is,  there  is  his  country, 
and  there  is  his  home;  and  what  is  your  daily 
acknowledgment? — "  Our  Father,  which  art  in 
heaven."  That  blessed  Being  then,  whom  the 
Spirit  of  God  has  taught  us  to  call  Abba,  Father, 
is  not  here.  That  blessed  Being,  whom  the 
Word  of  God  has  called  our  Elder  Brother, 
"  the  first  born  among  many  brethren,"  Rom. 
viii,  29,  is  not  here;  " I  go,"  said  he,  "to  pre- 
pare a  place  for  you,  that  where  I  am,  there  ye 
may  be  also."  St.  John  xiv,  2.  The  spirits  of 
just  men  made  perfect,  whom  the  Word  of  God 
has  denominated  members  of  that  blessed  family 
to  which  we  even  now  belong,  are  not  here. — 
"  They  shall  sit  down,"  said  our  Lord,  "  with 
Abraham,  and  Isaac,  and  Jacob,  in  the  kingdom 
of  God."  They  have,  therefore,  already  taken 
their  seats  in  some  holier  and  happier  country 
than  the  present  scene,  and  we  cannot  think 
ourselves  at  home,  while  separated  from  our 
Father,  our  Brother,  our  family,  our  friends. 


121 

II.  If  it  be  evident,  from  these  outward  cir- 
cumstances of  their  lives,  that  the  people  of  God 
are  strangers  upon  earth,  and  ought  in  every 
individual  case  so  to  feel,  and  to  confess  them- 
selves, it  is,  in  the  second  place,  equally  evident 
from  the  inward  workings  of  their  hearts,  that 
they  are  "  pilgrims"  also. 

A  pilgrim  is,  literally,  a  traveller,  a  wanderer. 
Now,  in  one  sense,  the  term  may  be  applied  to 
all  the  inhabitants  of  the  earthj  we  are  all  pil- 
grims, because  we  are  all  continually  moving 
onward,  like  the  inmates  of  a  vessel,  willing  or 
unwilling,  to  the  termination  of  their  voyage. 
All  things  here  are  sliding  from  beneath  us;  do 
what  we  will,  we  cannot  bind  them  to  us;  our 
closest  relationships,  our  plighted  vows,  our 
marriage  contracts,  are  daily  rent  asunder  by 
the  strong  hands  of  time  and  death.  Every 
thing  proves  that  we  are  on  a  journey,  in  which 
we  may  not  linger,  even  for  an  hour.  In  this 
all  will  agree,  it  is  a  mere  truism  to  which  we 
should  not  refer,  were  it  not  for  the  purpose  of 
making  an  important  distinction.  Every  man 
born  into  the  world  is,  by  his  condition,  a  pil- 
grim. This  is  a  truism,  but  this  is  the  distinc- 
tion—that it  is  reserved  for  the  child  of  God,  in 
II 


122  THE  saint's  confession. 

sincerity  to  feel  and  to  confess  himself  a  pilgrim, 
and  to  live  a  pilgrim  in  his  affections  and  hopes. 
If  no  changes  were  hourly  taking  place 
around  him,  if  no  graves  were  daily  opening  at 
his  feet,  if  time  had  closed  his  wings,  and  were 
for  ever  standing  motionless  upon  this  lower 
sphere,  and  all  vicissitudes  had  ceased,  the  con- 
fession of  a  child  of  God  would  be  still  the 
same — I  am  a  pilgrim  upon  earth.  It  is  true 
I  see  no  evidence  of  change  around  me,  I  ob- 
serve nothing  transitory  without  me,  but  I  feel 
the  certainty  of  this  great  truth  in  the  very  exer- 
cise of  the  graces  which  God  has  given  me ;  I 
feel  it  in  my  own  soul,  I  experience  its  uncer- 
tainty in  my  own  heart;  so  long  as  my  faith, 
and  hope,  and  love  remain  the  poor  imperfect 
graces,  which  the  Word  of  God  has  described 
them,  and  which,  alas!  I  find  them  to  be  within 
my  breast — they  are  sufficient  to  convince  me, 
that  I  am  a  wanderer  and  a  traveller  here.  My 
faith  is  weak,  and  I  must  travel  on  until  I  reach 
far  higher  regions  in  the  spiritual  life,  where  my 
faith  shall  be  matured  and  strengthened.  My 
hope  is  dull,  and  I  must  hasten  forward  to 
brighter,  and  nearer  manifestations  of  the  glory 
that  shall  be  revealed  in  me,  that  my  hope  may 


123 

shine  clear,  and  strong,  and  steadily.  My  love, 
even  at  the  best,  is  poor,  and  cold,  and  profitless, 
to  the  Being  whom  I  adore,  and  I  must  quicken 
my  pace,  and  finish  my  pilgrimage,  and  get 
within  the  walls  of  my  Father's  house,  where 
my  love  shall  be  perfected,  and  where  it  shall 
have  the  largest  exercise,  and  the  fullest  scope, 
and  be  for  ever  engaged  in  the  service  of  Him  I 
love,  and  for  ever  casting  the  crown  of  its  grati- 
tude before  His  throne. 

The  very  imperfection  of  my  graces,  then, 
proves  me  to  be  a  pilgrim,  and  teaches  me  that 
my  rest  cannot  be  here,  that  I  must  look  for  a 
more  advanced  and  holier  state  of  spiritual  ex- 
istence; that  I  must  "press  towards  the  mark 
for  the  prize  of  the  high  calling  of  God,  in 
Christ  Jesus,"  and  run  the  race,  and  fight  the 
fight,  and  hasten  onward  to  the  incorruptible 
crown,  which  cannot  be  worn  on  earth,  but 
which  is  laid  up  for  me  in  the  kingdom  of  my 
Father. 

Proceed  we  now  to  a  more  personal  applica- 
tion of  the  words  of  the  text. 

Anxiety  respecting  the  unrevealed  future,  is 
by  no  means  an  uncommon  state  of  mind;  in- 
deed we  believe  it  to  be  a  state,  of  which  all 


124  THE  saint's  confession. 

who  are  in  the  least  degree  really  awakened  to 
any  serious  feeling  in  religion,  at  times  are  sen- 
sible ;  the  heartfelt  desire  to  ascertain  whether 
they  have  a  well-grounded  hope  of  a  participa- 
tion in  that  infinity  of  blessedness  which,  as 
Christians,  they  profess  to  anticipate.  The  sub- 
ject before  us,  then,  offers  some  valuable  tests 
for  determining  this  important  point.  We  have 
seen  that  the  words  of  the  text  describe  the 
feelings  of  the  real  people  of  God  in  every  age; 
we  have  detailed  the  reasons  that  they  do  soj 
we  would,  then,  urge  you  to  inquire  whether 
they  can  be  considered  as  in  any  manner  de- 
scriptive of  yourselves.  Are  you  able  truly  to 
confess,  that  you  are  living,  acting,  thinking,  as 
if  you  were  a  stranger  and  a  pilgrim  here? 
The  man  of  business,  who  sacrifices  every  thing 
future  for  the  claims  of  the  present  hour,  giving 
up  all  his  thoughts,  his  time,  his  heart,  to  the 
one  great  object  of  his  earthly  calling — let  me 
address  one  word  to  him.  You  believe  the 
Bible  to  be  the  Word  of  God,  you  believe  in  a 
coming  eternity,  a  certain  judgment,  and  yet 
you  have  no  heart  for  these  things.  You  must, 
the  claims  of  your  family  demand  that  you 
should,  at  least  so  you  imagine,  give  up  every 


125 

thing  at  present  for  the  one  great  object  of  this 
world's  advantages.  Now  we  desire  to  pass  no 
sentence  upon  you;  we  simply  remind  you  of 
this  striking  fact: — you  have  heard  the  confes- 
sion of  all  God's  people  in  every  age;  you  have 
seen  the  truth;  you  cannot  deny  the  propriety 
of  it;  that  while  they  have  lived  in  the  world, 
they  have  known,  and  felt,  and  acted  as  those 
who  never  for  a  moment  were  identified  with 
its  followers.  Is,  then,  their  experience  yours? 
Is  yours  the  life  of  a  pilgrim  and  a  traveller? 
Do  you  reply,  that  you  know  not  to  what  pecu- 
liarities in  the  conduct  of  such  persons  we  al- 
lude? Then  take  up  any  book  of  travels,  and 
as  you  read  it,  mark  the  conduct  and  the  feel- 
ings of  the  writer.  It  never  enters  into  his 
thoughts,  to  exhaust  his  strength,  his  time,  his 
energies,  in  acquiring  possessions  in  a  land,  that 
he  is  in  hourly  expectation  of  leaving,  and  for 
ever.  He  passes  cursorily  through  the  country, 
but  never  dreams  of  establishing  himself  among 
the  natives  of  it.  He  endeavors  to  procure  a 
sufficiency  of  the  good  things  of  the  land  to 
supply  the  exigencies  of  his  journey,  but  cer- 
tainly nothing  that  shall  impede  his  onward 
passage.  By  the  very  nature  of  the  things  he 
11» 


126  THE  saint's  confession. 

seeks,  you  may  in  a  moment  discover  the  differ- 
ence between  a  native  and  a  traveller.  He 
does  not,  for  instance,  seek  for  houses,  or  land, 
because,  however  valuable  to  the  residents,  they 
are  worthless,  utterly  worthless,  to  the  pilgrim; 
he  cannot  carry  them  away  with  him,  neither 
can  they  follow  him;  if  he  purchase  any  thing 
beyond  his  mere  sustenance,  it  will  be  the  jew- 
els, the  pearls,  the  valuables  which  he  can  take 
away  to  that  far  country  whither  he  is  going. 
Mark  the  application  to  yourselves.  Could  you 
be  so  over  anxious  for  the  riches,  the  distinc- 
tions, the  perishable  possessions  of  this  world,  if 
you  were  speaking  the  language  of  truth,  when 
you  professed  yourself  a  pilgrim?  It  is  impos- 
sible ;  you  would  seek  nothing  with  a  whole 
heart  that  you  could  not  carry  with  you ;  you 
would  seek  the  jewels  of  the  land,  the  graces  of 
the  Spirit,  the  ornaments  of  a  meek  and  quiet 
disposition,  a  humble  heart,  a  kind  and  affec- 
tionate temper,  all  those  endowments  which  are 
disregarded  here,  but  of  which  you  have  learnt 
the  value ;  and  while  you  saw  the  breathless 
anxiety,  the  deadly  struggle  going  forward 
among  the  men  of  this  world  for  the  honors 
and  riches  of  earth,  you  would  feel  as  travellers 


127 

feel  in  eastern  climes,  when  they  see  the  simple 
and  ignorant  natives  contesting  vehemently  for 
a  looking-glass  or  a  bead,  but  permitting  them 
to  carry  away  unquestioned  the  most  precious 
things  which  the  land  produces.  You  would, 
in  fact,  in  all  things,  feel  as  a  pilgrim  feels,  and 
live  as  a  pilgrim  lives,  using  the  world  as  not 
abusing  it,  and  where  your  treasure  is,  there 
would  your  heart  be  also  j  not  in  the  land  of 
your  travels,  not  in  the  inn,  which  you  are  mak- 
ing a  transient  resting-place,  but  there,  "  where 
neither  moth  nor  rust  doth  corrupt,  and  where 
thieves  do  not  break  through  and  steal." 

But  there  is  yet  another  test  which  we  would 
offer  you,  for  ascertaining  this  important  fact. 
A  foreigner  is  easily  distinguished,  in  every 
country  through  which  he  passes,  to  be  a  fo- 
reigner. However  perfectly  he  may  have  learn- 
ed the  language,  however  accurately  he  may, 
through  courtesy,  adopt  the  innocent  customs  of 
those  among  whom  he  is  for  a  short  time,  tarry- 
ing, there  is  a  certain  something  which,  to  the 
eye  of  a  native,  stamps  him  for  a  stranger  and 
a  foreigner,  something  to  excite  the  observation 
of  the  thoughtless,  or  the  ridicule  of  the  vulgar. 
They  see  he  is  unlike  themselves,  and  this  is 


128  THE  saint's  confession. 

always  sufficient  to  occasion  animadversion. 
Now,  my  brethren,  let  me  again  ask,  are  you 
willing  to  be  thus  characterized,  thus  distin- 
guished.^ to  be  remarked,  and  sometimes,  per- 
haps, unkindly  remarked,  as  those  whose  chief 
object  in  life  is  different  from  the  persons  around 
you?  who  have  imbibed  different  tastes,  mo- 
tives, and  opinions,  and  who  demonstrate  this 
by  a  different  manner  of  life,  and  tenor  of  con- 
duct? and  this  even  at  the  risk,  or  rather  cer- 
tainty, of  being  frequently  misunderstood  and 
occasionally  misrepresented,  the  inevitable  result 
of  appearing  in  the  world  as  a  citizen  of  another 
and  a  better  country? — or,  are  you  so  conformed 
to  this  world,  its  pleasures,  its  fashions,  and  its 
follies,  that  none  among  whom  you  live,  would 
ever  suspect  you  to  be  either  a  stranger,  or  a 
foreigner?  Have  you  so  entirely  domesticated 
yourselves  among  the  people  of  this  transitory 
state,  that  you  can  pass  hours  and  days,  and 
•weeks  in  their  society,  and  never  betray,  by 
your  language  or  your  actions,  that  you  are  the 
natives  of  another  country  in  which  are  your 
inheritance  and  your  kindred?  If  so,  we  fear 
you  are  deluding  yourself  in  the  belief  that  you 
are  really  born  of  God.     All  his  children,  as  we 


129 

have  seen,  can  unite  in  the  confession  of  the 
text,  but  you  cannot  honestly  adopt  it.  You 
are  neither  a  stranger  nor  a  pilgrim  here ;  it  is, 
in  fact,  we  fear,  only  here  that  you  are  at  home. 
When  you  attempt  to  speak  of  heaven  and  hea- 
venly things,  if  you  ever  do  attempt  it,  or  to 
enter  into  communion  with  God,  if  you  know 
any  thing  of  such  communion,  then  it  is  that 
you  are  essentially  a  stranger  and  a  foreigner; 
you  have  so  little  relish  and  so  little  love  for 
these  things,  that  it  is  sufficiently  evident,  you 
are  habitually  strange  to  them;  you  are  of  the 
earth,  earthy;  you  are  not  observed  to  differ, 
simply  because  in  heart  you  do  not  differ;  you 
have  the  same  views,  the  same  objects,  the 
same  pursuits,  as  the  world,  which  is  at  "enmity 
with  God,"  St.  James  iv,  4,  and  if  you  continue 
thus,  what  can  preserve  you  from  the  same 
lamentable  end? 

One  word  to  those  among  you  who  really  are 
living  as  strangers  and  pilgrims  here,  and  I  have 
done. 

My  Christian  brethren,  we  have  been  endea- 
voring to  point  out  some  few,  although  but.  few, 
of  the  shades  of  difference  by  which  the  chil- 
dren of  God  may  be  distinguished  here  on  earth, 


130  THE  saint's  confession. 

and  your  own  experience  will,  in  many  cases, 
we  trust,  have  convinced  you,  that  by  the  grace 
of  God,  these  are  visible  in  your  life  and  conver- 
sation. Suffer  me,  however,  to  add  a  word  of 
caution  to  those  among  you,  who  are  willing, 
heartily  to  confess  that  this  is  not  their  home, 
and  who  are  desirous  of  living  as  the  citizens  of 
a  better  country,  even  an  heavenly.  You  are 
not  conformed  to  the  habits  and  pleasures,  the 
follies  and  sins  of  the  world  through  which  you 
are  passing;  this  is  well,  but  it  is  not  enough  to 
despise  and  to  abjure  the  follies  of  earth,  you 
must  also  endeavor  to  recommend  the  joys  of 
heaven.  One  thing  is  almost  invariably  found 
in  the  conduct  of  every  foreigner,  come  from 
what  land  he  may,  namely,  that  he  is  most  anx- 
ious to  impart  to  those  among  whom  he  jour- 
neys, a  favorable  impression  of  the  land  of  his 
nativity.  It  is  impossible  to  take  up  a  book  of 
travels  without  being  struck  with  thi^  peculi- 
arity. Such,  then,  should  be  your  feelings  in 
every  transaction  of  your  lives,  with  regard  to 
the  good  land  whither  you  are  going.  In  all 
your  words,  and  in  all  your  actions,  the  desire  to 
elevate  that  land,  and  to  extol  the  glory  of  Him 
who  reigns  there,  should  have  the  paramount 


131 

place.  Shall  the  worldly  traveller  be  for  ever 
endeavoring  to  advance  the  interests  of  his  na- 
tive country,  and  shall  the  Christian  pilgrim  not 
endeavor  so  to  live,  as  shall  best  recommend 
heaven?  Shall  the  wordly  traveller  prefer  every 
thing  that  remindshim  of  his  home,  and  love  every 
thing  in  proportion  as  it  resembles  that  which  he 
has  left,  and  to  which  he  is  returning,  and  shall 
the  Christian  pilgrim  have  no  thoughts,  no  heart, 
no  feelings,  for  those  persons,  occupations,  or  en- 
joyments, which  speak  the  most  plainly  of  the  land 
whither  he  is  going?  It  cannot  be;  if  you  are 
really  travelling  heavenwards,  your  heart,  your 
thoughts,  your  words,  will  not  be  destitute  of  all 
feeling,  all  mention  of  that  blissful  place.  Your 
preference  for  heaven  must  begin  on  earth,  your 
preparation  for  heaven  must  be  completed  here, 
or  you  will  never  be  amidst  the  number  of  those 
happy  and  blissful  pilgrims,  their  journey  over, 
their  toils  forgotten,  who  have  now  for  ever  sat 
down  at  the  right  hand  of  the  Majesty  on  high. 
Be  then  increasingly  in  earnest,  in  cultivating 
this  taste,  by  prayer  which  brings  you  before 
God's  throne  of  grace;  by  meditation  which,  as 
it  were,  lifts  up  your  head  above  the  clouds, 
even  into  his  immediate  presence;  by  the  com- 


132  THE  saint's  confession. 

munion  of  saints,  which  warms  the  heart  with 
love  to  God,  and  for  his  sake  to  every  member 
of  his  family  in  heaven  and  earth.  And  for 
your  comfort  during  the  miles  of  your  pilgrim- 
age, which  may  yet  remain  to  you,  as  well  as  to 
excite  you  to  industry  by  the  way,  remember 
that  "the  time  is  short,"  and  that  the  "fashion 
of  this  world  passeth  away."  To  some  among 
us  the  journey  may  be  well  nigh  over;  the  road 
we  have  passed  can  be  trodden  no  more,  and 
but  a  small  portion  of  the  pilgrimage  probably 
remains.  The  towers  of  the  celestial  city  are 
already  visible  in  the  horizon;  yet  a  little  while, 
and  we  shall  be  standing  at  the  gate,  and  pre- 
senting our  credentials  for  admittance.  That 
will  be  indeed  a  blessed  day,  to  all  who  are  truly 
reconciled  to  God,  by  the  blood  of  his  Son,  to 
all  who  shall  stand  before  Him  complete  in 
Christ,  when  the  everlasting  doors  shall  be  lifted 
up,  and  "  an  entrance  ministered  abundantly," 
into  the  kingdom  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus 
Christ.  The  first  hour  in  heaven,  will  more, 
infinitely  more,  than  compensate  for  the  longest 
and  weariest  pilgrimage  ever  passed  on  earth. 
You  will  scarcely  have  entered  there,  before  the 
toils  and  the  labors  of  the  way  will  be  forgotten. 


133 

and  every  other  thought  absorbed  in  this  one 
blissful  feeling — Thank  God,  I  have,  at  length, 
in  safety  reached  my  native  land;  I  am  in  the 
presence  of  my  Father,  my  Brother,  my  family, 
my  friends;  I  am  in  possession  of  my  long-ex- 
pected inheritance,  no  more  a  stranger,  no  more 
a  pilgrim,  but  now  in  the  land  of  my  nativity — 
in  the  house  of  my  Father — at  home  for  ever. 


13 


134 


SERMON  VIII. 

THE  SAINTS  ON  EARTH. 


1  Cor.  Ill,  21,  22,  23. 

"ALL  THINGS  ARE  YOURS;  WHETHER  THE  WORLD,  OR 
LIEE  OR  DEATH,  OR  THINGS  PRESENT,  OR  THINGS  TO 
come;  ALL  ARE  YOURS,  AND  YE  ARE  CHRIST's;  AND 
CHRIST  IS  god's." 

The  privileges  of  a  Christian  form  a  subject 
intelligible  only  to  the  Christian.  Speak  of  them 
to  the  man  of  the  world,  and  they  excite  his 
astonishment  or  his  contempt.  The  more  you 
endeavor  to  enlighten  his  mind  upon  so  myste- 
rious a  topic,  the  deeper  you  enter  into  its 
details,  and  dwell  upon  all  its  high,  and  holy, 
and  heart-cheering  realities,  the  greater  danger 
do  you  run  of  increasing  the  sin  of  your  hearer 
by  increasing  his  scorn;  and  instead  of  winning 
his  attention  or  his  sympathy,  of  driving  him 
still  further  from  the  possession  of  delights,  for 
which  at  present  he  is  not  prepared.    How  truly 


THE  SAINTS  ON  EARTH.  135 

and  affectingly  has  the  Word  of  God  announced, 
"  The  natural  man  receiveth  not  the  things  of 
the  Spirit  of  God:  for  they  are  foolishness  unto 
him:  neither  can  he  know  them,  for  they  are 
spiritually  discerned."  1  Ep.  Cor.  ii,  14. 

Such  being  the  case,  in  our  addresses  to  a 
mixed  congregation,  we  often  feel,  to  a  certain 
degree,  restrained  from  dwelling  upon  the  many 
rich  and  precious  discoveries  of  the  Christian 
privileges  bequeathed  to  us  in  the  Word  of  our 
God;  we  dare  not  offer  indiscriminately  "the 
children's  bread,"  lest  it  be  taken  by  those 
whom  it  could  not  nourish,  and  we  be  charged 
in  the  great  day,  with  wrongly  dividing  the 
word  of  truth. 

There  are  seasons,  nevertheless,  the  present  is 
one,*  when  we  feel  especially  called  upon  to 
address  those  among  you  to  whom  we  might 
say,  with  the  Apostle  in  the  text,  "  Ye  are 
Christ's;"  and  to  endeavor  to  offer  the  words  of 
encouragement  and  consolation  to  your  hearts, 
in  the  manner  and  in  the  language,  which  St. 
Paul  there  offered  them  to  his  hearers^  by  decla- 
ring, "  All  things  are  yours." 

It  is  unquestionably  an  astonishing  assertion ! 
*  Preached  on  a  Sacrament  Sunday. 


136  THE  SAINTS  ON  EARTH. 

"  All  things  are  yours!"  What,  all  things  the 
property  of  the  poor,  despised,  afflicted,  ignorant 
followers  of  the  crucified  Nazarene;  of  those 
who,  at  the  time  the  Apostle  wrote,  were  a  by- 
word and  a  proverb,  the  "o'ffscouring  of  all 
things;"  1  Ep.  Cor.  iv,  13,  of  those  who,  in  every 
succeeding  age,  even  at  the  present  day,  with 
all  its  pretensions  to  a  liberality  unknown  to  its 
predecessors,  are  as  completely  the  object  of  the 
worldly-wise  man's  scorn,  and  the  worldly- 
prudent  man's  contempt,  as  they  have  ever  been 
in  any  portion  of  the  Church's  eventful  history. 
Nevertheless,  such  is  the  privilege  of  your  high 
calling,  "All  things  are  yours."  "Fear  not, 
little  flock,"  said  he  who  calleth  you,  and  who 
also  will  do  it,  "  fear  not,  little  flock,  it  is  your 
Father's  good  pleasure  to  give  you  the  king- 
dom." St.  Luke  xii,  32.  And  with  the  king- 
dom, "all  things"  thereto  pertaining,  all  that 
can  render  life  happy,  death  peaceful,  time  com- 
fortable, eternity  glorious. 

Let  us,  then,  employ  our  thoughts  this  morn- 
ing, in  dwelling  upon  some  of  the  great  and 
imspeakable  blessings,  which  must  necessarily 
be  involved,  in  this  inspired  declaration.  The 
mind  which,  if  not  insensible,  is  still,  perhaps, 


THE  SAINTS  ON  EARTH.  137 

but  slightly  and  partially  affected  by  this  gene- 
ral proposition,  may,  under  the  teaching  of 
God's  grace,  be  roused  to  far  higher  feelings  of 
gratitude,  and  far  more  delightful  returns  of 
devotedness,  obedience,  and  love,  by  a  closer 
contemplation  of  some  of  the  covenanted  bless- 
ings contained  in  the  general  and  widely-extend- 
ed promise. 

The  Apostle  commences,  then  by  the  asser- 
tion, "  The  world"  is  yours. 

This  is,  perhaps,  the  most  astonishing  propo- 
sition of  the  text.  The  world,  the  property  of 
God's  people !  That  very  world,  of  which  they 
are  so  plainly  told,  "  Love  not  the  world,  neither 
the  things  which  are  in  the  world.  If  any  man 
love  the  world,  the  love  of  the  Father  is  not  in 
him;"  that  very  world  which  has  so  often 
driven  them,  as  it  were,  as  outcasts  from  its 
surface.  Yes,  brethren,  the  whole  tenor  of 
God's  Word,  reveals  to  us  the  fact,  that  it  is  for 
the  sake  of  the  people  of  God,  and  of  them 
alone,  that  the  Almighty  tolerates  the  mass  of 
iniquity  and  rebellion  against  himself,  with 
which  the  world  that  we  inhabit  is  for  ever 
teeming.  If  God's  people  were  at  once  entirely 
removed  from  its  surface,  if  the  voice  of  prayer 
12* 


133  THE  SAINTS  ON  EARTH. 

were  for  ever  silenced,  if  the  sacrifice  of  praise 
were  for  ever  at  an  end,  and  the  world  was 
peopled  only  with  the  dreadful  remnant  that 
remained — the  God-forgetting  idler,  the  drunk- 
ard, the  swearer,  the  murderer,  the  profane ;  and 
all  the  voices  of  men  that  ascended  up  to  the 
throne  of  grace,  were,  as  they  would  then 
unquestionably  be,  but  as  the  dark,  black  smoke 
of  the  bottomless  pit,  who  can  doubt  that  the 
language  of  our  God  would  be  again,  as  it  was 
of  old,  to  Moses,  "Let  me  alone,  that  I  may 
destroy  them,  and  blot  out  their  name  from 
under  heaven?"  Deut.  ix,  14.  Who  can  ques- 
tion but  that  the  first  hour  of  such  an  awful  state 
of  things,  would  be  the  last  hour  of  this  world's 
guilty  existence;  and  that  either  the  winds  of 
heaven,  or  the  fires  of  hell,  would  blot  out  all 
traces  of  our  miserable  abode? 

If,  then,  you  are  indeed  the  believing,  obeying, 
praying  people  of  God,  "  the  world  is  yours," 
although  you  never  may  possess  an  acre  upon 
its  surface;  it  is  far  more  truly  yours,  than  it  has 
ever  been  the  property  of  the  most  widely- 
reigning  autocrat,  who  has  held  its  miUions  in 
subjection.  Its  blessings  are  yours,  for  all  the 
good  things  of  the  world  are  not  only  enjoyed 


THE  SAINTS  ON  EARTH.  139 

by  the  people  of  God,  but  enjoyed  in  a  peculiar 
manner;  they  come  to  you  with  a  sweetness 
and  a  pleasantness  that  they  can  come  to  none 
besides,  for  they  are  to  you  the  covenanted 
mercies  of  a  Father,  while  to  others  they  are 
but  as  the  chance  and  promiscuous  gifts,  fluag 
from  the  indiscriminating  hand  of  some  unknown 
and  unregarded  stranger. 

While  others,  therefore,  enjoy  the  transient 
sweetness  of  the  passing  hour,  you  possess  the 
double  relish,  the  sweetness  of  the  blessing,  and 
the  love  of  Him  from  whom  it  flows.  He  who 
knew  the  heart  of  man,  far  more  accurately 
than  most  of  its  erring  possessors,  was  inspired 
to  say,  "Better  is  a  dinner  of  herbs  where  love 
is,  than  a  stalled  ox  and  hatred  therewith." 
Prov.  XV,  17.  If  this  be  true — and  true  it  un- 
questionably is — of  poor,  frail,  perishing  human 
love,  what  is  it  of  the  love  of  God  in  Christ 
Jesus?  That  dinner  of  herbs,  that  dinner  of  dry 
bread,  is  sweet  indeed,  when  sweetened  with  a 
Saviour's  love,  with  a  sense  of  his  presence,  a 
consciousness  of  his  approbation,  a  knowledge 
of  himself.  Possessing  this,  God  "gives  you  all 
things  richly  to  enjoy;"   and  there  is  not  an 


140  THE  SAINTS  ON  EARTH. 

innocent  pleasure  upon  earth,  of  which  you 
will  not  partake  with  a  keenness  of  enjoyment, 
and  an  exquisiteness  of  relish,  unknown  to 
grosser  appetites,  and  never  experienced  by  the 
unrenewed  and  worldly  mind. 

We  pass  from  the  pleasures  of  the  world,  to 
its  trials  and  afflictions.  Even  these  are  yours; 
none  so  heavy;  none  so  grievous,  that  you  do 
not  feel  from  your  inmost  heart — I  would  not 
have  been  deprived  of  this,  I  would  not  have 
gone  without  this  token  of  my  Father's  love, 
for  any  blessing  that  the  world  could  offer  me. 
I  feel  my  very  trials  among  my  privileges,  and 
would  bless  God  for  these  my  necessary  medi- 
cines, as  well  as  for  my  daily  bread.  Doubtless 
some  will  say  that  this  is  exaggeration,  that  this 
is  more  than  even  the  best  of  men  can  realize ; 
that  it  is  enough  to  bear  afflictions — it  is  too 
much  to  rejoice  in  them.  But  there  is  reason  to 
believe,  that  if  the  heart  of  every  true  Christian 
in  this  assembly  were  laid  open  to  the  inspection 
of  his  fellow-men,  as  it  is  to  Him  from  whom 
no  secrets  are  hid,  we  should  be  justified  in  the 
declaration,  that  the  sorrows  and  trials  of  earth 
are  as  entirely  yours,  yours  to  benefit  and  to 


THE  SAINTS  ON  EARTH.  141 

profit  by,  yours  to  be  content  with,  and,  in  some 
cases,  even  to  rejoice  in,  as  its  brightest  plea- 
sures, and  most  deUghtful  gratifications. 

Yes,  my  Christian  brethren,  "the  world''  is 
yours,  and  all  that  are  in  the  world;  the  devil 
and  his  worst  designs,  evil  men  and  their  worst 
enormities,  are  not  beyond  the  reach  of  that 
arm,  which  overrules  every  event  for  the  good 
of  God's  people.  This  is  the  very  hell  of  hell 
to  Satan,  that  "as  his  malice  is  limited  by  his 
power,  his  power  is  limited  by  God's  sovereign- 
ty," so  that  every  efibrt  of  that  guilty  spirit,  for 
the  ruin  of  God's  Church,  is  overturned  for  its 
positive  benefit,  for  the  profit  of  every — even 
the  lowest — member  of  that  Church.  How 
must  this  daily,  hourly  discomfiture,  and  disap- 
pointment, add  even  to  the  pangs  of  Satan, 
whatever  be  their  intensity  and  bitterness;  every 
hour  that  passes  over  him,  only  convincing  him 
the  more  fully  of  his  own  utter  impotency,  and 
the  triumph  of  our  God;  showing  him,  that 
even  the  world,  the  one  vast  bait  with  which 
he  ruins  thousands,  is  made  subservient  to  the 
eternal  interests  of  God's  redeemed  people;  and 
that  world,  of  which,  in  the  garden  of  Eden,  he 
believed  he  had  for  ever  deprived  the  eternal 


142  THE  SAINTS  ON  EARTH. 

Architect,  is  still  Messiah's  world,  and  shall 
witness  the  last  great  triumph  of  the  Redeemer, 
when  he  shall  place  his  foot  upon  the  serpent's 
head,  and  consign  him  to  the  blackness  of  dark- 
ness for  ever. 

Again;  but  "life'^  also  is  yours,  says  the 
Apostle,  and  "things  present." 

Temporal  life  and  spiritual  life.  How  much, 
then,  is  embraced  in  the  declaration  that  life  is 
yours!  The  seed  of  immortality,  the  first  bright 
dawn  of  an  eternal  day.  And  all  "things  pre- 
sent," whether  spiritual  or  temporal,  which  ac- 
company it. 

I.  Spiritual  things. 

The  grace  of  justification,  by  which  you  have 
received  a  full  and  sufficient  pardon  for  every 
repented  sin;  the  grace  of  acceptance,  by  which 
you  are  accepted  of  God,  in  Him  who  is  the 
"Lord  our  righteousness;"  the  grace  of  sancti- 
fication,  by  which  your  blessed  Redeemer  has 
not  only  torn  off  the  chains  of  your  bondage, 
but  replaced  them  by  the  jewels  of  holiness; 
not  only  taken  away  much  that  was  polluted, 
and  vile,  and  guilty,  but  clothed  you  with  the 
robes  which  angels  wear,  making  you  partakers 
of  the  Divine  nature,  that  your  hearts  may  be 


THE  SAINTS  ON  EARTH.  143 

made  "after  God's  own  heart;"  the  grace  of 
adoption,  "Behold,  what  love  the  Father  hath 
bestowed  upon  us,  that  we  should  be  called  the 
sons  of  God."  Can  a  mother  forget  her  child, 
a  parent  his  offspring?  And  is  not  our  heavenly- 
Father's  love  far  greater  than  that  of  any  earth- 
ly parent?  will  he  not,  therefore,  bear  with  your 
weakness,  hear  your  prayers,  provide  for  your 
necessities,  prepare  you  for  your  inheritance? 
The  grace  of  perseverance,  by  which,  having 
been  made  one  with  God,  and  God  with  you, 
you  are  strengthened  against  temptation,  sup- 
ported when  weak,  restored  when  fallen,  and 
finally,  "kept  by  the  power  of  God  through 
faith  unto  salvation."  These  are  "things  pre- 
sent," these  are  among  the  spiritual  blessings 
which  are  your  portion  here;  but  the  promise 
even  of  the  present,  goes  farther  than  this;  it 
does  not  exclude  things  temporal.  "He  who 
has  given  to  us  his  Son,"  said  the  Apostle, 
"how  shall  he  not,  with  him,  also  freely  give  us 
all  things?"  And  in  reference  to  these  very 
blessings,  our  Lord  has  himself  declared,  "Seek 
ye  first  the  kingdom  of  God  and  His  righteous- 
ness, and  all  these  things  shall  be  added  unto 
you."    This  is,  however,  a  point  of  so  much 


144  THE  SAINTS  ON  EARTH. 

importance  to  my  poorer  hearers,  that  I  shall 
dwell  a  little  longer  upon  it.  I  address  some 
among  you,  perhaps,  who  are  indeed  among  the 
true  followers  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus 
Christ;  and  poor  and  destitute  though  ye  be, 
are  yet  the  children  of  the  King  of  kings,  and 
the  undoubted  objects  of  his  compassion,  and 
consideration,  and  love.  Now,  when  you  read 
such  declarations  as  those  of  the  Psalmist,  "  I 
have  been  young  and  now  am  old,  and  yet  saw 
I  never  the  righteous  forsaken,  and  his  seed 
begging  their  bread,"  Psalm  xxxvii,  25,  the 
effect  upon  your  minds  may  be — I  believe  to 
some  it  has  been — rather  of  a  painful  than  an 
encouraging  nature.  You  may  reasonably  feel, 
if  this  be  true,  I  fear  I  have  little  share  in  the 
covenant,  for  I  have  often  needed  not  only  the 
luxuries  and  comforts  of  life,  but  even  bread 
itself. 

However  opposed,  then,  the  opinion  may  be 
to  the  sentiments  of  many  religious  persons  in 
the  present  day,  we  confess  that  we  do  not  be- 
lieve such  declarations  of  freedom  from  temporal 
need  and  temporal  misery,  to  belong  to  the  dis- 
pensation under  which  we  live.  So  far  from  it, 
that  the  very  want  of  the  good  things  of  this 


THE  SAINTS  ON  EARTH.  145 

world,  which  would  hinder  you  in  your  course 
to  heaven,  is  a  part  of  the  promise:  it  is  posi- 
tively a  part  of  your  portion  not  to  have  those 
things,  the  possession  of  which,  God,  in  your 
particular  case,  sees  must  be  prejudicial  to  you. 
Therefore,  be  assured,  and  let  not  your  hearts  be 
troubled,  while  I  tell  you,  if  poverty  be  good 
for  you,  you  shall  have  it;  if  disgrace  be  good, 
you  shall  have  it;  if  contracted  circumstances 
and  evil  report  shall  help  you  towards  heaven, 
you  shall  not  be  without  them;  there  is  not,  in 
fact,  a  greater  mistake  than  believing  that  God's 
dearest  children  do  not  share,  and  share  largely, 
in  the  troubles  and  sorrows,  the  poverty  and 
necessities  of  earth,  for  "  if  in  this  life  only  we 
have  hope  in  Christ,"  said  a  poor  and  afflicted 
disciple,  "  we  are  of  all  men  most  miserable."  1 
Ep.  Cor.  XV,  19.  While,  perhaps,  it  was  our 
Lord's  express  intention  to  convey  this  to  his 
followers,  when  he  delivered  his  beautiful  and 
instructive  parable  of  the  rich  man  and  Laza- 
rus; for  was  not  Lazarus  a  believer?  Was  he 
not  as  sincere  a  child  of  God  as  our  Lord  ever 
portrayed?  and  do  we  find  him  preserved  from 
temporal  sufferings  and  distress?  Far  from  it. 
He  lay  unpitied  at  the  rich  man's  gate,  refused 
13 


146  THE  SAINTS  ON  EARTH. 

even  the  crumbs  which  fell  from  the  rich  man's 
table. 

When,  therefore,  we  say,  "things  present" 
are  yours,  we  believe  that  such  a  portion  of 
them  as  shall  really  be  for  your  eternal  welfare, 
shall  not  be  withheld  from  you;  but  we  beUeve, 
at  the  same  time,  that  that  portion  may  be  a 
very  small  one;  that  while  God  knows  it  to  be 
not  only  sufficient  for  you,  but  the  very  best  and 
the  fittest  you  could  receive,  nothing  but  his 
grace  enlightening  your  heart,  and  making  God's 
will  your  will,  can  possibly  reconcile  it  to  your- 
selves. Take  a  familiar  illustration  of  this; — 
you  do  not  manifest  your  love  to  your  children 
by  giving  all  a  large,  or  all  an  equal  portion, 
either  of  food  or  raiment.  The  garment  of  the 
full-grown  boy  would  ill  become  the  babe  in  the 
mother's  arms.  It  is  the  fittest,  not  the  largest, 
which  you  esteem  the  best  for  each.  And  so 
is  it  with  your  heavenly  Father.  If  you  are  his 
children,  he  invariably,  whether  it  be  great  or 
small,  gives  you  that  portion  which  is,  under 
every  circumstance,  as  known  only  to  himself, 
the  fittest  for  you;  and  though  you  understand 
it  not,  and  cannot  perceive  it  now,  a  day  will 
arrive,  either  in  time  or  in  eternity,  when  you 


THE  SAINTS  ON  EARTH.  147 

will  fully  acknowledge  this  great  truth,  and 
would  not  for  worlds,  have  had  one  blessing 
more,  or  one  reverse  or  trouble  less,  in  your 
earthly  lot,  than  those  which  He  who  loves  you, 
has  appointed  for  you. 

The  Christian's  joy,  therefore,  with  regard  to 
"  things  present,''  is  this — that  he  has  precisely 
that  allotment  which  comes  proportioned  by  a 
Father's  wisdom,  and  accompanied  by  the  bless- 
ing of  a  Father's  love;  and  this,  to  the  grateful 
heart  of  the  true  child  of  God,  is  better,  infinite- 
ly better,  than  all  the  surfeiting  abundance  of 
him  who  could  cry, "  Soul,  thou  hast  much  goods 
laid  np  for  many  years,  take  thine  ease,  eat, 
drink,  and  be  merry."  St.  Luke,  xii,  19. 

The  Apostle,  however,  in  the  text,  does  not 
limit  the  Christian's  possession  to  "  life  and  things 
present,"  but  he  declares  that  "death  and  things 
to  come,"  are  yours. 

This  is  indeed  a  striking  peculiarity  of  the  be- 
liever's lot.  The  man  of  the  world  may  say. 
Things  past  have  been  mine,  things  present  are 
mine,  but  we  defy  him  to  add — none  but  the 
Christian  can  add— the  triumphant  conclusion. 
Things  to  come  shall  be  mine.  How  blessed  a 
prerogative  of  every    real  follower    of    God. 


148  THE  SAINTS  ON  EARTH. 

How  marked  the  superiority  of  the  Christian. 
Are  you,  through  grace,  a  believer  in  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ?  and  do  you  ever  ask,  What  will ' 
the  coming  times  bring  with  them?  How  much 
of  moral  evil,  how  much  of  physical  evil,  how 
much  of  spiritual  evil,  lies  brooding,  dark  and 
lowering,  beneath  their  wings?  I  know  not,  I 
cannot  know,  what  will  happen,  but  of  this  I 
am  assured,  with  a  certainty  which  nothing  can 
affect,  with  an  assurance  which  nothing  can  de- 
stroy, that  He  in  whom  I  trust,  is  the  Alpha 
and  Omega,  the  beginning  and  the  end,  that  he 
can  and  will  control  the  last  acts  of  his  provi- 
dence, as  surely  and  as  mercifully  as  he  has 
already  done  the  first  acts  of  his  grace,  and  that 
He,  even  He,  has  declared,  that  "  things  to 
come"  are  mine;  arranged  for  my  happiness, 
sanctified  to  my  service,  blessed  to  my  present 
and  eternal  welfare.  Why  then  should  I  de- 
spond? why  should  I  even  perplex  myself? 
"  Let  the  potsherds  strive  with  the  potsherds  of 
the  earth;"  Isaiah,  xlv,  9;  "let  the  dead  bury 
their  dead."  I  will  rest  calmly  and  securely  in 
the  promises,  in  the  power  of  my  Almighty  Sa- 
viour, "  for  all  power  is  given  to  him  in  heaven 
and  in  earth,"  and  what  he  has  said,  he  can,  and 


THE  SAINTS  ON  EARTH.  149 

therefore  he  will  assuredly  bring  to  pass,  and 
overrule  the  mightiest  events  which  can  ever 
happen  in  the  world,  for  the  benefit  even  of  me, 
the  poorest  and  most  insignificant  of  his  chil- 
dren. Things  past  have  not  injured  me,  things 
present  do  not  injure  me,  things  to  come  cannot 
injure  me;  this  is  the  cool  and  dispassionate 
conviction  of  my  soul.  How  unspeakably  great 
are  the  privileges,  how  strong,  therefore,  should 
be  the  confidence  of  the  Christian. 

Are  any  among  you,  however,  disposed  to 
add — It  is  true,  for  I  believe  my  Redeemer's 
promise;  things  present,  and  things  to  come, 
however  threatening  and  disastrous,  are,  and  by 
the  wonderful  workings  of  his  providence  and 
grace,  shall  be  my  own;  but  there  is  yet  one 
enemy  I  dare  not  face,  there  is  one  hour  for 
which  my  faithless  heart  still  quakes:  that  hour 
is  the  hour  which  shall,  for  ever,  call  me  hence 
— that  enemy  is  death.  Be  of  good  courage, 
brethren,  this  constant  infirmity  of  our  nature 
has  not  been  forgotten  in  our  promised  privi- 
leges. It  might  have  been  sufficient  to  have  in- 
cluded it  in  the  "all  things''  which  are  ours;  it 
might  have  contented  our  hearts  to  know  and  to 
feel  that  if  "  things  to  come"  be  ours,  death  must 
13» 


150  THE  SAINTS  ON  EARTH. 

necessarily  be  one,  and  therefore  needed  no 
separate  enumeration,  but  "  He  who  came" 
expressly,  "to  destroy  him  that  had  the  power 
of  death,  and.  deliver  them  who,  through  fear 
of  death,  were  all  their  lifetime  subject  to  bon- 
dage," Hebrews,  ii,  15;  has  not  failed  to  speak, 
even  to  our  very  weaknesses  and  our  fears,  upon, 
this  deeply  interesting  point.  He  tells  us,  dis- 
tinctly, by  the  mouth  of  this  holy  Apostle,  that 
even  "  death"  is  ours — ours  not  indeed  to  escape 
from,  that  would,  be  a  faithless  and  a  coward 
wish,  but  ours  to  meet,  ours  to  oppose,  and 
ours  to  conquer,  in  the  strength  and  through  the 
merits  of  our  Redeemer.  Yes,  the  time  must 
arrive  when  what  has  happened  to  all,  shall 
happen  to  you,  "  when  the  grasshopper  shall  be 
a  burden,  and  desire  shall  fail;  when  the  silver 
cord  shall  be  loosed,  and  the  golden  bowl  be 
broken;  when  the  dust  shall  return  to  the  earth 
as  it  was,  and  the  spirit  shall  return  unto  God 
who  gave  it."  Eccles.  xii,  5.  What  is  not  the 
assurance  worth,  which  can  stand  against  that 
hour?  which  shall  be  calm,  when  all  around  are 
agitated,  peaceful,  when  all  around  are  anxious, 
and  enable  you  to  say,  "  I  know  whom  I  have 
believed,  and  am  persuaded  that  he  is  able  to 


THE  SAINTS  ON  EARTH.  151 

keep  that  which  I  have  committed  unto  him, 
against  that  day;"  2  Tim.  i,  12;  "  my  flesh  and 
my  heart  fuileth,"  there  is  no  promise  that  they 
shall  do  otherwise,  'for  they  are  of  the  earth, 
earthy;  "my  flesh  and  my  heart  faileth,  but 
God  is  the  strength  of  my  heart,  and  my  portion 
for  ever."  Psalm,  Ixxiii,  26.  Thus,  through 
the  grace  of  your  conquering  Redeemer,  death 
will  be  yours,  its  sting  drawn  out,  its  terrors 
quelled,  its  power  for  ever  broken.  And  this 
to  the  faintest  and  weakest  believer  among  you, 
as  certainly  and  unquestionably,  as  to  the  strong- 
est and  most  advanced.  If  you  are  indeed 
placed  upon  a  rock,  though  you  stand  but  a  sin- 
gle foot  above  the  highest  limit  of  the  waves, 
you  are  as  secure  as  he  who  stands  ten  thousand 
feet  above  your  head,  and  that  rock  must  fall, 
before  your  life  be  perilled.  So  is  it  with  the 
Rock  of  Ages!  Whether  life  or  death,  or  things 
present,  or  things  to  come,  all  are  yours,  if  you 
are  Christ's,  for  Christ  is  God's. 

Such  is  a  faint  outline  of  the  incalculable  pri- 
vileges of  the  saints  on  earth!  Ought  not  every 
one  among  us,  then,  to  ask  his  heart  in  sincerity, 
the  great  question  upon  which  an  eternity  will 
depend — Am  I  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ's?  have  I 


153  THE  SAINTS  ON  EARTH. 

fled  to  Him  for  refuge,  for  pardon,  for  grace,  for 
strength?  Is  all  my  trust,  all  my  righteousness, 
all  my  hope,  in  Him,  and  in  Him  alone?  If  you 
possess  a  belief,  a  reasonable,  a  scriptural,  a 
well-grounded  belief  that  it  is,  not  a  word  which 
we  have  spoken  this  day,  not  a  promise,  not  a 
privilege,  which  does  not  belong  to  yourself.  "  All 
are  yours;"  grace  which  the  world  cannot  take" 
away,  peace  which  the  world  cannot  understand, 
promises  which  the  world  cannot  appreciate; 
"  All  are  yours."  Live  daily  more  and  more  in 
the  belief  and  in  the  enjoyment  of  them,  then 
shall  life,  with  all  its  trials,  be  to  you  but  a  sea- 
son of  preparation  for  joys  which  shall  never 
end;  and  death,  with  all  its  agonies,  but  the 
gate  through  which  you  shall  pass  from  your 
prison  to  your  palace;  and  "  things  to  come," 
with  all  the  infinity  of  their  blessedness,  shall  be 
your  purchased  portion,  your  enduring  inheri 
tance,  when  "  things  present"  shall  have  passed 
away  for  ever. 


153 


SERMOxN  IX. 

THE  SAINTS  IN  HEAVEN. 


Rev.  VII,  13-15. 

"AND  ONE  OF  THE  ELDERS  ANSWERED,  SAYING  UNTO 
ME,  WHAT  ARE  THESE  WHICH  ARE  ARRAYED  IN 
WHITE  ROBES?  AND  WHENCE  CAME  THEY?  AND  I 
SAID  UNTO  HIM,  SIR,  THOU  KNOWEST.  AND  HE  SAID 
TO  ME,  THESE  ARE  THEY  WHICH  CAME  OUT  OF  GREAT 
TRIBULATION,  AND  HAVE  WASHED  THEIR  ROBES,  AND 
MADE  THEM  WHITE  IN  THE  BLOOD  OF  THE  LAMB. 
THEREFORE  ARE  THEY  BEFORE  THE  THRONE  OF  GOD, 
AND  SERVE  HIM  DAY  AND  NIGHT  IN  HIS  TEMPLE." 

Since  we  last  assembled  in  this  house  of 
prayer,  our  Church  has  celebrated  the  return  of 
one  of  the  most  important  festivals  in  the  Chris- 
tian year — the  ascension  into  heaven  of  our 
Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ.  All  that  re- 
mained to  set  the  seal  of  Omnipotence  to  the 
great  and  glorious  work  of  man's  redemption, 
was  on  that  day  achieved;  when  He,  who  was 


154  THE  SAINTS  IN  HEAVEN. 

more  than  conqueror  over  Satan,  sin,  and  death, 
returned  to,  the  bosom  of  the  Father,  from 
whence  he  came,  again  to  receive  blessing,  and 
honor,  and  glory,  and  power,  of  which,  as  we 
are  told,  the  ten  thousand  times  ten  thousand  of 
the  hosts  of  heaven  pronounced  him  "  worthy." 
Our  Church,  well  knowing  how  little  disposed 
the  hearts  and  minds  of  her  members  would  be 
to  dwell  upon  these  high  and  elevating  subjects; 
how  much  we  are  all  bound  down  to  earth,  by 
the  world,  its  duties  and  its  entanglements;  most 
wisely  does  not  content  herself  with  the  beauti- 
fully appropriate  services  which  she  selects  for 
the  anniversary  of  the  ascension,  but  again,  by 
her  Collect  and  Scriptures  for  to-day,  endeavors 
to  maintain  and  strengthen  the  feeling  which  , 
she  hopes  her  former  efforts  may  have  enkin- 
dled. She  is  unwilling  to  suffer  the  blessed 
theme  to  depart  from  our  memories,  and  she  • 
uses  all  her  holy  influence  to  retain  it  there.  It 
is  as  though  she  had  stood  with  the  disciples  on 
the  Mount  of  the  Ascension,  and  with  them  had 
"looked  steadfastly  towards  heaven  as  He  went 
up,"  and  was  still,  like  those  same  disciples,  un- 
able to  withdraw  her  gaze  from  the  stream  of 
light  and  glory  which  had  broken  in  upon  her, 


THE  SAINTS  IN  HEAVEN.  155 

when  the  everlasting  doors  were  opened,  and 
the  King  of  Glory  re-entered  the  celestial  abodes. 

While,  then,  the  parting  beams  of  the  ascend- 
ing Saviour,  like  the  last  rays  of  sun-set,  thus 
gleam  upon  us,  let  us  strive  to  promote  the  de- 
signs of  our  Church,  and  by  God's  grace,  give, 
if  it  be  but  for  this  Sabbath  hour,  some  thought, 
and  enjoy  some  foretaste  of  higher  feelings  than 
those  of  earth,  by  endeavoring,  in  imagination, 
but  imagination  sanctified  and  chastened  by  the 
revealed  Word  of  God,  to  follow  in  the  train  of 
our  Lord,  and  to  take  one  transient  gaze  even 
within  the  portals  of  heaven  itself. 

For  our  guide  in  this  blissful  meditation,  let 
us  adopt  that  portion  of  Holy  Writ  which  forms 
the  context  to  the  passage  we  have  selected. 
Let  us  endeavor  to  see,  with  the  eye  of  faith, 
what  John,  the  beloved  Apostle,  saw  by  actual 
vision.  Hear  his  own  description:  "After  this," 
that  is,  after,  in  obedience  to  the  invitation, 
"Come  up  hither,  and  I  will  show  thee  things 
which  must  be  hereafter,"  he  had  stood,  as  it 
were,  upon  the  threshold  of  heaven,  and  after 
he  had  seen  the  Jewish  Church,  the  one  hun- 
dred and  forty-four  thousand,  the  remnant  that 
should  be  saved  with  an  everlasting  salvation, 


156  THE  SAINTS  IN  HEAVEN. 

and  who  were  for  ever  received  into  the  man- 
sions of  the  blessed,  all  sealed  by  the  angel  of 
the  living  God.  "After  this/'  he  continues,  "I 
beheld,  and  lo!  a  great  multitude,  which  no 
man  could  number,  of  all  nations,  and  kindreds, 
and  people,  and  tongues,  stood  before  the  throne, 
and  before  the  Lamb,  clothed  with  white  robes, 
and  palms  in  their  hands. 

Here,  by  the  light  of  prophetic  vision,  we  see 
the  whole  Gentile  Church,  as  it  is  partially  ga- 
thered even  now,  as  it  shall  be  most  abundantly 
filled  up,  when,  in  the  language  of  our  burial 
service,  it  shall  "please  God,  of  his  gracious 
goodness,  to  accomplish  the  number  of  his  elect, 
and  to  hasten  his  kingdom."  Let  us,  then, 
dwell  for  a  moment  upon  this  first  sight  in  that 
country  "whither  our  Saviour  Christ  is  gone 
before."  Of  the  unutterable  glories  and  myste- 
ries of  the  throne,  and  of  Him  who  sits  upon  it, 
we  dare  not  speak ;  that  must  be  reserved  for 
the  day  when  we  shall  have  dropped  the  body 
of  sin  and  death  which  now  encumbers  us,  and 
when  the  veil  shall  be  removed  from  our  hearts. 
But  concerning  those  before  the  throne,  that 
great  and  blessed  multitude,  as  both  their  place 
and  their  employment  are  revealed  to  us,  we 


THE  SAINTS  IN  HEAVEN.  157 

need  not  be  silent.  First,  then,  we  shall  ob- 
serve their  place — they  stand  "before  the  throne 
and  before  the  Lamb."  Their  post  is  evidently 
the  highest  in  honor,  and  glory,  and  happiness 
of  all  the  hosts  of  heaven,  for  they  are  imme- 
diately in  front  of  the  throne,  npon  which  is  the 
High  and  Holy  One,  who  "inhabiteth  the  praises 
of  eternity." 

Now,  observe  the  next  order  of  Beings  who 
encircle  that  throne  of  "light  Avhich  no  man 
may  approach  unto;"  "And  all  the  angels," 
says  the  Word  of  God,  "stood  round  about  the 
throne,  and  about  the  elders,"  i.  e.  the  angels, 
the  host  of  heaven,  are  there,  but  they  stand 
"round  about"  that  countless  multitude  who 
are  admitted  the  nearest  and  the  closest  to  the 
Eternal  One.  Thus  much  for  their  places;  with 
regard  to  their  employments,  they  are  essentially 
the  same,  for  they  are  all,  as  the  Divine  Word 
expresses  it,  the  "ministers  of  God  who  do  his 
pleasure,"  occupied  in  the  scene  before  us  in 
praising  and  glorifying  the  One  great  object  of 
their  adoration  and  their  love,  and  doubtless 
employed  throughout  all  time,  and  throughout 
all  space,  in  carrying  forward  the  wonderful 
14 


158  THE  SAINTS  IN  HEAVEN. 

designs  of  the  wisdom,  and  the  power,  and  the 
love  of  Deity,  in  regions  at  present  utterly  in- 
scrutable to  mortal  eye,  and  entirely  inaccessible 
to  human  inquiry. 

Still,  though  the  employment  of  the  heavenly 
host,  and  of  the  spirits  of  just  men  made  perfect, 
be,  as  we  have  seen,  essentially  the  same  in  the 
scene  before  us,  viz.  the  ascription  of  praise  and 
glory  to  the  triune  Jehovah,  the  language  in 
which  it  is  conveyed  is  as  different,  and  as 
remarkably  different,  as  these  two  orders  of 
beings  are  themselves.  This  is  the  hymn  of 
angels — ^*Amen:  blessing,  and  glory,  and  wis- 
dom and  thanksgiving,  and  honor,  and  power, 
and  might,  be  unto  our  God  for  ever  and  ever;" 
Rev.  vii,  11,  12;  a  simple  and  beautiful  chorus, 
an  ascription  of  praise  to  the  Lord  God  Omni- 
potent. Now,  mark  the  distinctive  feature  in 
the  hymn  of  that  unnumbered  multitude  who 
stand  next  and  nearest  to  the  throne  of  God — 
"  They  cried  with  a  loud  voice,  saying.  Salvation 
to  our  God  which  sitteth  upon  the  throne,  and 
unto  the  Lamb;"  Rev.  vii,  10;  or  as  the  praises 
of  the  same  worshippers  are  given  still  more  at 
length  in  the  5th  chapter,  «  Thou  art  worthy. 


THE  SAINTS  IN  HEAVEN.  159 

for  thou  wast  slain,  and  hast  redeemed  us  to 
God  by  thy  blood,  out  of  every  kindred,  and 
tongue,  and  people,  and  nation."  Rev.  v,  9. 

You  observe  the  difference.  In  the  hymn  of 
the  angels,  there  is  no  reference  to  the  Lamb  of 
God  which  taketh  away  the  sins  of  the  world, 
no  mention  of  the  great  work  of  redemption, 
which  for  them  was  never  needed,  for  they  kept 
their  first  estate,  and  are  still  the  pure  and  spot- 
less beings  they  were  created. 

In  the  hymn  of  the  countless  multitude  of  the 
spirits  of  the  just,  the  one  great  theme  of  saints 
in  heaven  and  saints  on  earth,  forms  the  burden 
of  their  song,  "  Thou  hast  redeemed  us  to  God 
by  thy  blood."  How  striking  a  peculiarity! 
Throughout  the  ages  of  eternity,  the  saints  shall 
never  sing  the  angels'  song;  the  angels  can 
never  be  partakers  of  the  peculiar  feelings  of 
the  gratitude  of  the  saints;  that  feeling  which 
must,  for  ever  and  for  ever,  fill  the  hearts,  and 
engage  the  voices  of  those  who  have  once  been 
lost,  and  ruined,  and  sin-polluted  upon  earth. — 
Yes,  when  unnumbered  ages  shall  have  passed 
away,  the  heart  of  every  glorified  spirit  in  the 
kingdom  of  our  Father,  will  still  be  occupied 
even  to  overflowing  with  one  great,  and  blessed, 


160  THE  SAINTS  IN  HEAVEN. 

and  overpowering  recollection:  heaven  was 
once  closed  against  me  by  my  own  sins;  hell 
was  prepared  for  me  by  my  own  obduracy  and 
impenitence;  but  thanks  be  to  God,  I  was  re- 
deemed by  the  blood  of  Him  who  sits  upon  the 
throne,  and  rescued  by  his  power  from  sin, from 
Satan,  and  from  self,  and  brought  hither,  an 
everlasting  monument  of  the  love  of  my  Re- 
deemer. 

No  sooner  had  St.  John  heard  those  heavenly 
strains,  and  seen  this  glorious  company,  than 
one  of  the  elders  answered  saying  unto  him, 
"  What  are  these  which  are  arrayed  in  white 
robes?  and  whence  came  they?'^  speaking  evi- 
dently of  the  multitude  which  stood  the  nearest 
to  the  throne,  because,  as  we  have  seen,  they 
only  were  so  attired.  St.  John  answered,  "Sir, 
thou  knowest;"  then  the  elder  replied,  "These 
are  they  which  came  out  of  great  tribulation, 
and  have  washed  their  robes,  and  made  them 
white  in  the  blood  of  the  Lamb;  therefore  they 
are  before  the  throne  of  God."  Wonderful  and 
instructive  truth!  Of  all  that  have  entered 
heaven  from  this  world  of  sin  and  misery,  one 
universal  characteristic  is,  that  they  have  come 
"  out  of  great  tribulation." 


THE  SAINTS  IN  HEAVEN.  161 

The  multitude  whom,  by  the  eye  of  faith,  we 
now  see  standing  before  the  throne,  although  so 
numerous  that  no  man  can  number  them,  so 
diverse  that  all  nations,  and  kindreds,  and  peo- 
ple, and  tongues,  have  there,  their  representa- 
tives; comprising,  therefore,  those  of  the  highest 
refinement,  and  those  of  the  lowest  barbarism; 
those  who,  while  on  earth,  fared  sumptuously 
every  day,  and  those  who  lay  unheeded  at  many 
a  rich  man's  gate;  this  multitude  contains  not 
an  individual  who  has  not  come  out  of  great 
tribulation,  who  has  not  once  labored,  and  tra- 
vailed, and  mourned,  and  suffered  upon  earth. 
It  is  the  description,  not  of  one,  but  of  all.  It  is 
not  that  there  is  here  and  there,  in  that  vast 
multitude,  a  poor  and  wretched  creature,  whose 
lot  on  earth  was  filled  with  misery  and  woe,  and 
to  whom,  in  compensation  for  all  he  then  had 
undergone,  the  Almighty  has  now  vouchsafed 
an  eternal  weight  of  glory;  no,  of  that  unnum- 
bered number,  this  is  universally,  unexceptiona- 
bly  true.  All  came  "  out  of  great  tribulation.'^ 
Sorrow  once  had  set  its  seal  on  the  heart  of 
each,  and  whatever  was  his  station,  there  were 
griefs  known,  probably  only  to  God  and  to  him- 
14* 


160  THE  SAINTS  IN  HEAVEN. 

self,  and  for  which  God  alone  provided  the  alle- 
viation and  the  cure. 

How  improbable  is  such  a  statement!  Is 
heaven  filled  only  with  those  who  once  were 
mourners  here?  What,  then,  becomes  of  the 
happy?  of  those  for  whom  the  world  has  never 
had  a  cross?  Brethren,  if  this  be  your  difficulty, 
it  is  easily  answered.  Where  will  you  find 
such?  Where  live  these  invariably  happy  ones? 
Where  is  the  lot,  however  high,  and  noble,  and 
joyous,  in  which  grief  and  suffering,  at  some 
period,  do  not  plant  a  thorn?  But  it  is  of  more 
than  this,  that  the  passage  before  us  speaks. 

Let  us  then,  in  imagination,  draw  near  that 
happy  throng  who  surround  the  throne,  and  let 
us  question  some  among  them,  upon  whose 
countenances,  care  has  left  no  trace,  and  sorrow 
apparently  has  never  imprinted  a  single  furrow. 
Is  it  true,  can  it  be  possible,  that  in  the  world 
you  suffered  tribulation?  Yes,  blessed  be  God, 
mine  wns  a  lot  of  trial,  of  poverty,  and  of  dis- 
appointment; of  the  good  things  of  the  world, 
as  we  thought  them  while  on  earth,  I  never  was 
partaker,  but  by  the  grace  of  my  God,  my  po- 
verty led  me  to  strive  after  the  true  riches,  even 
the  unsearchable  riches  of  Christ,  and  they  were 


THE  SAINTS  IN  HEAVEN.  163 

mine:  free,  sovereign,  undeserved  mercy,  made 
them  mine,  and  kept  them  mine,  until  it  brought 
me  here;  and  in  me  the  Word  of  my  God  has 
been  abundantly  fulfilled,  that  he  hath  "chosen 
the  poor  of  this  world,  rich  in  faith,  and  heirs 
of  the  kingdom."  St.  James,  ii,  5. 

And  you,  again,  were  you  also  thus  wretched, 
and  miserable,  and  poverty-stricken  upon  earth? 
No,  it  was  my  lot  to  say  with  David,  ^'  the  Unes 
are  fallen  to  me  in  pleasant  places,  yea,  I  have 
a  goodly  heritage,"  Psalm,  xvi,  6;  for  God  hath 
given  me  all  things  richly  to  enjoy.  You,  then, 
escaped  the  tribulation  from  which  all  around 
you  suffered?  Far  from  it;  I  had  those  to  whom 
my  heart  was  tenderly  attached,  taken  from  me 
at  the  moment  when  my  love  was  strongest,  and 
my  need  of  them,  most  urgent.  I  wept  many 
a  bitter  tear,  I  mourned  through  many  an  hour 
of  sorrow;  but  the  trial  was  from  my  heavenly 
Father's  hand;  and  by  his  grace  those  tears  of 
sorrow  were  converted  into  tears  of  joy,  and  my 
tribulation  was  made  the  means  of  winning  me 
to  himself.  I  had  heard  much,  read  much,  and 
thought  much  of  this  blessed  place,  but  never 
should  I  have  been  here,  had  not  these  precious 


164  THE  SAINTS  IN  HEAVEN. 

trials  taught  me  the  emptiness  of  all,  I  then  pos- 
sessed, and  brought  me  to  the  Saviour's  feet. 

But  yet  once  more.  Were  you  also  among 
the  poor  and  the  desolate?  or  among  the  be- 
reaved, and  the  widowed,  and  the  stricken  ones? 
No!  mine  was  yet  a  different  lot.  The  arrow 
of  conviction  of  sin,  struck  me  in  my  career  of 
worldliness  and  mirth,  and  brought  me  at  once 
to  that  point  which  many  have  attained  only  by 
years  of  sickness,  or  days  of  sorrow.  The  sight 
of  my  own  heart,  the  knowledge  of  its  plague 
and  its  pollution,  sent  home  upon  me  by  the 
Spirit  of  God,  was  my  "great  tribulation."  I 
could  truly  say  with  David,  "  My  sin  was  ever 
before  me;"  "  I  went  heavily  as  one  that  mourn- 
eth  for  his  mother,"  until  it  pleased  my  heaven- 
ly Father  to  turn  my  mourning  into  joy,  by  re- 
vealing his  Son  in  me,  and  fulfilling  to  me,  the 
chief  of  sinners,  his  own  most  blessed  promise, 
"He  that  now  goeth  on  his  way  weeping,  and 
beareth  forth  good  seed,  shall  doubtless  come 
again  with  joy,  and  bring  his  sheaves  with  him." 
Psalm,  exxvi,  6. 

Were  we  thus  to  search  through  all  the  ranks 
of  that  vast  multitude,  and  speak  thus,  one  by 


THE  SAINTS  IN  HEAVEN.  165 

one,  with  every  individual  of  whom  it  is  com- 
posed, each  would  assuredly  tell  us  the  same  truth, 
that  some  trial,  some  trouble,  some  sorrow,  some 
privation,  some  sickness,  some  anxiety,  was 
needed  in  most  cases,  before  he  was  made  deep- 
ly conscious  of,  and  penitent  for  his  sins,  and  be- 
came united  in  heart  and  soul  to  the  Redeemer; 
but,  certainly,  in  all  cases,  yes,  in  every  particu- 
lar instance,  before  he  attained  to  "  the  stature 
of  the  fulness  of  Christ,"  and  was  "made  meet 
to  be  a  partaker  of  the  inheritance  of  the  saints 
in  light.'' 

And  is  this  the  truth  of  Scripture,  brethren? 
Do  yon  really  believe  it?  Then  ought  it  not  to 
change  your  views,  and  moderate  your  grief 
under  every  disappointment,  and  trial,  and  afflic- 
tion? Whatever  be  the  nature  of  the  sorrow 
under  which  you  suffer,  it  is  your  privilege,  if 
you  are  a  child  of  God,  to  consider— this  is  a 
portion  of  the  "  tribulation,"  which  my  Lord 
promised  to  each,  and  all  his  followers  here  be- 
low, when  he  said,  "  In  the  world  ye  shall  have 
tribulation;"  can  I  follow  him  in  sincerity,  and 
yet  escape  it?  This  is  a  portion  of  the  "  great 
tribulation,"  by  which  every  saint  in  glory  was 
once  exercised,  and  out  of  which  he  was  triuni- 


166  THE  SAINTS  IN  HEAVEN. 

phantly  delivered;  I  could  never  join  that  happy 
throng,  if  I  travelled  not  the  road,  by  which 
they  journeyed,  and  suffered  not  by  those  sanc- 
tifying and  purifying  fires,  through  which  they 
passed.  Let  this,  then,  be  your  consolation — 
"  Beloved,  think  it  not  strange  concerning  the 
fiery  trial  which  is  to  try  you,  as  though  some 
strange  thing  happened  unto  you;  but  rejoice, 
inasmuch  as  ye  are  partakers  of  Christ's  suffer- 
ings; that  when  his  glory  shall  be  revealed,  ye 
may  be  glad  also  with  exceeding  joy."  1  St.  Peter 
iv,  12.  While  on  the  other  hand,  to  those 
among  you  who  may  feel — I  am  preserved  from 
all  these  sorrows,  my  lot  is  a  happy  and  an  un- 
clouded one;  surely  if  I  were  a  child  of  God,  I 
should  experience  something  at  least  of  the 
tribulations  of  his  people.  Be  patient,  bre- 
thren, we  have  often  heard  this  language,  and 
have  marked  well  the  speakers,  and  as  years 
have  passed  away,  we  have  seen  them  all,  with- 
out exception,  sooner  or  later,  under  the  chasten- 
ing hand  of  their  heavenly  Father,  brightening 
in  the  furnace,  the  fires  of  which  have  been  kin- 
dled by  his  love.  Only  bear  in  mind,  that  it  is 
not  the  trial,  but  the  effect  of  the  trial,  which 
must  form  the  subject  of  your  anxiety.     It  is 


THE  SAINTS  IN  HEAVEN.  167 

not,  Have  you  suffered?  or  how  long,  or  how 
greatly  suffered?  but.  Has  it  wrought  the  work 
for  which  it  was  in  mercy  sent— the  bringing 
to  Christ,  or  the  building  up  in  Christ  Jesus,  of 
your  immortal  souls? 

The  consideration  leads  us,  in  conclusion,  to 
one  other  characteristic,  equally  striking,  and 
equally  universal,  with  that  upon  which  we 
have  been  meditating.  We  have  seen  that  all 
those  who  stand  before  the  throne  of  God,  have 
travelled  by  the  same  road,  in  having  come 
out  of  much  tribulation;  but  all  are  likewise 
clothed  in  similar  vestments,  for,  as  we  have 
read,  "  they  stand  before  the  throne  and  before 
the  Lamb,  clothed  with  white  robes."  Whence 
was  this?  Listen  again  to  the  Elder,  who  ex- 
plained it  to  St.  John:  "These  are  they  which 
came  out  of  great  tribulation,  and  have  washed 
their  robes  and  made  them  white  in  the  blood  of 
the  Lamb.  Therefore  are  they  before  the  throne 
of  God." 

How  does  this  correct  one  of  the  most  com- 
mon misapprehensions  of  the  natural  heart? 
How  many  would  have  pronounced  that  the 
trials,  and  the  troubles,  the  sicknesses,  and  sor- 
rows of  the  Saints  on  earth,  were  the  cause  of 


168  THE  SAINTS  IN  HEAVEN. 

their  being  now,  the  Saints  in  heaven.  How 
entirely  the  misapprehension  is  corrected  here,  I 
need  not  tell.  It  is  not,  they  labored,  they  suf- 
fered, they  agonized  on  earth,  and  therefore  are 
they  here.  But,  "they  washed  their  robes  and 
made  them  white  in  the  blood  of  the  Lamb — 
THEREFORE  are  they  before  the  throne  of  God." 
In  every  individual  case,  then,  the  affliction  had 
been  a  sanctified  affliction,  i.  e.,  in  the  language 
of  the  Apostle,  the  tribulation  had  worked  "pa- 
tience," patience  under  God's  chastening  hand, 
"and  patience,  experience,"  experience  of  the 
saving  love  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord, 
"and  experience,  hope,"  hope  of  the  salvation 
which  Christ  has  purchased,  the  good  hope, 
through  grace,  of  his  everlasting  kingdom.  It 
was  not  until  this  was  done,  until  each  had  fled 
for  refuge  to  the  hope  set  before  him  in  the 
Gospel,  until  each  had  for  himself  washed  his 
robe  and  made  it  white  in  the  blood  of  the 
Lamb,  that  he  possessed  the  smallest  title  to  the 
inheritance  which  he  now  enjoys. 

Brethren,  is  it  possible  that  with  such  a  truth 
as  this,  so  clearly  proclaimed  as  it  is  in  all  the 
doctrinal  portions  of  Scripture;  so  wonderfully, 
because,  if  we  may  so  express  it,  so  incidentally 


THE  SAINTS  IN  HEAVEN.  169 

exemplified  in  this,  which  may  almost  be  called 
an  historical  portion  of  Holy  Writ,  there  should 
be  one  among  us,  looking  to  any  thing  else 
which  the  world  can  offer,  for  his  admittance 
into  the  heavenly  abodes? 

No!  brethren,  the  single  word  "therefore" 
would  prevent  you,  for  it  preaches  far  plainer 
than  a  thousand  homilies.  It  contracts  the 
whole  Gospel  into  a  single  line.  Observe  its 
force.  You  have  not  sought  the  cleansing  effi- 
cacy of  the  blood  of  Christ.  But  you  have 
suffered  much — we  allow  it.  You  have  given 
much — we  grant  it.  You  have  known  and 
practised  much  of  high  and  honorable  dealing, 
in  all  your  intercourse  with  your  fellow-men — 
we  acknowledge  it.  You  have  come  out  of 
great  tribulation— we  deny  it  not.  The  hour 
of  death  is  over,  and  you  stand  at  heaven's 
gate,  seeking  for  admittance.  It  does  not  open. 
All  within,  are  clothed  in  the  white  robe  which 
they  put  on,  on  earth,  "  therefore  they  are  before 
the  throne  of  God."  You  cannot  enter  there, 
you  are  unclothed  with  this  garment,  you  re- 
jected it,  like  the  ungrateful  guest  at  the  mar- 
riage supper,  when  it  was  freely  offered  you> 
"  therefore,"  you  are  for  ever  excluded. 
15 


170  THE  SAINTS  IN  HEAVEN. 

Will  you  complain  of  this?  It  is  impossible. 
You  will  be  speechless.  Or,  if  you  speak,  it 
will  only  be  to  acknowledge  the  justice,  the' 
propriety,  nay,  the  absolute  necessity,  of  the 
sentence,  "I  never  knew  you,  depart  from  me, 
all  ye  workers  of  iniquity." 

Need  we,  then,  urge  you,  this  day,  this  hour, 
to  seek  a  place  with  the  ascended  Saviour;  to 
lay  aside  every  weight,  and  the  sin  which  does 
so  easily  beset  you,  and  to  run  with  patience 
the  race  that  is  set  before  you,  looking  unto 
Jesus,  the  Author  and  Finisher  of  your  faith; 
asking,  and  asking  as  the  only  boon  that  heaven 
itself  holds,  worth  your  seeking,  for  His  blood 
to  pardon,  His  Spirit  to  cleanse.  His  righteous- 
ness to  clothe  you ;  that,  having  even  now  put 
on  the  garments  of  a  Saviour's  righteousness, 
the  robes  of  purity  and  peace,  of  those  who  are 
before  the  throne,  you  may,  on  the  day  of  your 
departure  hence,  "have  right,"  as  the  Word  of 
God  strongly  expresses  it,  a  right,  not  of  merit, 
but  of  fitness,  "to  the  tree  of  life,  and  may  enter 
in  through  the  gates  into  the  city,"  Rev.  xxii, 
14,  and  take  your  place  among  that  unnum- 
bered multitude,  who,  having  once  been  admit- 
ted there,  shall  go  no  more  out  for  ever. 


171 


SERMOxN  X. 

PREPARATION  FOR  HEAVEN. 


St.  Luke  xxi,  31. 


It  is  the  wise  and  benevolent  intention  of  our 
Church,  at  this  season*  of  the  Christian  year,  to 
draw  the  thoughts  and  feeUngs  of  her  people 
towards  some  of  the  highest  mysteries,  and  the 
most  elevating  promises,  of  the  religion  they 
profess.  Thus,  at  one  time,  she  leads  us,  by 
her  appropriate  selections  of  Scripture,  to  look 
forward  to  the  holy  anniversary  of  our  Lord's 
first  coming  in  the  flesh;  at  another,  by  the 
same  judicious  arrangement,  to  his  second  com- 
ing to  judge  the  world.  She  intermingles  these 
great  and  solemn  truths,  with  many  fair,  and 
blessed,  and  soul-encouraging  visions  of  future 
*  Advent. 


172  PREPARATION  FOR  HEAVEN. 

glory,  which  God  has  prepared  for  those  who 
love  him. 

Among  the  portions  of  Scripture  to  which  we 
allude,  and  which  the  Church  has  selected  for 
these  valuable  and  important  purposes,  the  Gos- 
pel of  this  day*  deserves  the  serious  considera- 
tion of  her  people.  There  is  little  doubt,  that  it 
refers  primarily  to  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem, 
and  that,  in  the  language  of  Eastern  metaphor, 
"  the  sun,  and  the  moon,  and  the  stars"  repre- 
sented, and  were  well  understood,  by  our  Lord's 
hearers,  to  represent,  the  different  powers  and 
dignities  of  earth.  Thus,  when  these  same 
terms  are  adopted  in  the  Book  of  Ecclesiastes, 
the  Jewish  commentators  upon  the  text,  declare, 
that  by  the  sun,  they  understand  "  the  kingdom 
of  the  house  of  Davidj"  by  the  moon,  the  "  San- 
hedrin;"  and  by  the  stars,  "  the  Rabbles." — 
Tliere  is  little  doubt,  therefore,  that  however 
perplexing  such  a  description,  as  we  have  read 
this  morning,  may  be  to  us,  it  was,  to  those  to 
whom  it  was  primarily  addressed,  perfectly  in- 
telligible, perfectly  clear;  and  that  the  Jews 
entered  as  fully  into  all  the  warnings  and  all  the 
threatenings  of  the  prophecy,  as  they  did  into 
*  The  Second  Sunday  in  Advent. 


PREPARATION  FOR  HEAVEN.  173 

those  of  the  parable  of  the  vineyard  and  the 
husbandmen,  when,  notwithstanding  the  veil  of 
metaphor  beneath  which  it  was  shrouded,  they 
so  feelingly  exclaimed — "  God  forbid." 

Thus,  when  they  heard,  in  the  language  of 
the  text,  that  "  the  kingdom  of  God  was  nigh  at 
hand,"  and  that  that  "generation  should  not 
pass  away  till  all  were  fulfilled,"  they  perfectly 
understood,  not  merely  that  this  was  a  predic- 
tion of  the  end  of  the  world,  and  the  final  close 
of  all  things,  and  the  revelation  of  the  everlast- 
ing kingdom  of  God;  but  that,  in  its  primary 
sense,  it  foretold  a  more  visible  and  glorious 
display  of  the  kingdom  of  the  Messiah,  in  the 
destruction  of  his  enemies,  in  the  overthrow  of 
their  nation,  their  rulers,  and  themselves. 

This  primary  sense  of  the  prophecy,  has  been 
most  mideniably  fulfilled.  The  Son  of  man 
came,  as  he  had  promised,  with  power  and  great 
glory,  and  "the  kingdom  of  God,  which  was 
nigh  at  hand,"  when  he  spake  the  words  of  the 
text,  shortly  afterwards  actually  arrived;  and 
before  that  generation  passed  away,  the  Roman 
eagle  had  fleshed  his  beak  within  their  crowded 
city,  and  had  flapped  his  wings  over  the  smoking 
ruins  of  their  temple. 

15* 


174  PREPARATION  FOR  HEAVEN. 

But  there  is,  as  all  revelation  assures  us,  yet 
another  fulfilment  of  the  text,  awaiting  the  peo- 
ple of  God,  one  in  which  you,  and  I,  and  all 
must  bear  a  part;  the  day  on  which  this  king- 
dom of  God,  which  even  now  "  is  nigh  at  hand" 
to  every  individual  among  us — for  who  will  say 
that  death,  before  another  sun  hath  set,  shall  not 
introduce  him  there? — the  day  on  which  that 
world  of  mystery  shall  be  laid  open  to  us,  and 
we  shall  find  that,  as  expected  visitors,  as  invi- 
ted guests,  its  riches  and  its  pleasures,  its  delights 
and  its  enjoyments,  shall  be  for  ever  made  our 
own;  or,  as  banished  and  degraded  outcasts,  the 
things  belonging  to  our  peace,  shall  be  for  ever 
hidden  from  our  eyes;  while  the,  remembrance 
that  they  once  were  freely  offered,  presented  to 
us,  pressed  upon  us,  will  remain  only  to  add 
bitterness  to  our  pangs,  and  fuel  to  our  fires, 
throughout  eternity. 

It  is,  then,  of  this  future  and  glorious  king- 
dom that  we  would  this  day  speak;  of  a  city  of 
which  the  Word  of  God  assures  us,  that  all  the 
ideas,  that  man  has  ever  formed  of  splendor  and 
magnificence,  are  but  as  the  mere  tinsel  of  a  toy, 
when  compared  with  its  ineffable  realities;  of 
which  the  same  word  has  said,  "  The  city  had 


PREPARATION  FOR  HEAVEN.  175 

no  need  of  the  sun,  neither  of  the  moon  to  shine 
in  it;  for  the  glory  of  God  did  Hghten  it,  and  the 
Lamb  is  the  Hght  thereof;"  and  again,  "  I  saw 
no  temple  therein,  for  the  Lord  God  Almighty 
and  the  Lamb  are  the  temple  of  it;"  Rev.  xxi, 
22 'j  a  city,  of  which,  after  all  the  magnificence 
which  language  can  portray,  has  this  reserved 
for  its  last,  its  best,  its  highest  commendation — 
"  There  shall  in  no  wise  enter  into  it  any  thing 
that  defileth,  neither  whatsoever  worketh  abom- 
ination, or  maketh  a  lie,  but  they  which  are 
written  in  the  Lamb's  book  of  life."  Rev.  xxi, 
27.  Such  is  the  "  kingdom  of  God,"  of  which 
we  speak,  a  kingdom  which  God  has  promised; 
for  has  not  our  Lord  declared,  "  It  is  your 
Father's  good  pleasure  to  give  you  the  king- 
dom;" a  kingdom  which  Christ  himself  has  pur- 
chased and  bequeathed,  and  settled  upon  his 
children;  for  was  not  his  latest  prayer  on  earth, 
"  Father,  I  will  that  they  whom  thou  hast  given 
me  be  with  me  where  I  am;"  a  kingdom,  to 
which,  every  true  Christian  is  anxiously  look- 
ing; for  which,  by  the  influences  of  God's  Holy 
Spirit,  he  is  daily  preparing;  and  in  which, 
through  the  merits  of  God's  dear  Son,  he  is 
hoping  to  take  up  his  everlasting  abode. 


176  PREPARATION  FOR  HEAVEN. 

Probably,  there  is  not  an  individual  now  pre- 
sent who  does  not  desire,  and  even  more  than 
this,  who  does  not  expect,  to  enter  into  this  hea- 
venly kingdom.  But,  then,  a  mistake  upon  this 
subject  would  be  fatal;  let  us  therefore,  consider, 
with  all  plainness,  some  few  practical  points, 
which  may  materially  aid  us  in  determining, 
whether  we  have  a  sure  and  scriptural  ground 
for  this  expectation. 

I.  To  be  partakers  of  the  heavenly  kingdom, 
it  must  be  clear  to  every  man  of  common  under- 
standing and  common  reflection,  that  we  must 
possess  such  qualifications  as  shall  render  us,  in 
the  language  of  Scripture,  "  meet  to  be  parta- 
kers." The  work  of  Christ  would,  with  humil- 
ity be  it  spoken,  be  a  most  imperfect  work,  if 
heaven  were  not  a  prepared  place,  and  its  inhabi- 
tants a  prepared  people. 

It  is  not  enough,  then,  that  heaven  is  pur- 
chased and  prepared  for  us,  but  we  must  be  pre- 
pared for  it.  This  is  the  point  upon  which  the 
whole  inquiry  before  us  hinges;  for  if  we  are 
not  preparing  for  heaven,  it  is  obvious  to  a  de- 
monstration, that  heaven  is  not,  and  cannot  be 
prepared  for  us. 

Let  me,  then,  urge  you  to  inquire.  Have  you 


PREPARATION  FOR  HEAVEN.  177 

reason  to  think  that  you  are  the  possessors  of 
such  thoughts,  feeUngs,  affections,  habits,  man- 
ner of  life,  as  can  afford  you  a  well-grounded 
hope  that  you  are  daily  becoming  more  and 
more  "  meet  to  be  partakers  of  the  inheritance 
of  the  saints  in  light?"  In  other  words,  Have 
you  reason  to  hope  that  you  are  heavenly  in 
your  thoughts  and  conversation,  and  heavenly 
in  your  lives  and  conduct? 

First,  as  regards  your  thoughts  and  conversa- 
tion. 

It  is  impossible,  that  you  should  be  really  in 
earnest  in  this  great  business  of  life,  the  prepa- 
ration for  eternity,  without  its  engaging  a  por- 
tion, and  a  very  large  portion  of  your  conside- 
ration; where  there  is  nothing  of  Christ,  nothing 
of  heaven,  in  the  thoughts,  it  is  utterly  impossi- 
ble that  there  should  be  any  thing  of  Christ  in 
the  soul.  It  is  easy  for  men  to  say,  and  men 
will  say,  that  they  are  so  occupied  by  the  neces- 
sary business  and  pursuits  of  life,  that  they  have 
no  time,  no  opportunity,  to  think  frequently,  and 
converse  occasionally,  upon  these  high  themes, 
that  they  have  scarcely  the  power,  even  if  they 
possessed  the  inclination,  to  recall  their  thoughts 
from  the  bustle  of  the  world,  to  the  preparation 


178  PREPARATION  FOR  HEAVEN. 

for  heaven.  Here,  then,  is  a  point  upon  which 
we  are  distinctly  at  issue,  and  let  us  try  the 
question  by  one  of  daily  occurrence,  you  your- 
selves being  the  judges.  We  would  say  to  the 
man  most  engaged  among  you,  in  the  self-same 
all-absorbing  duties,  which  will  not  allow  him 
to  think  of  heaven;  had  you  ever  a  truly  be- 
loved and  affect  ionate  friend,  or  child,  or  wife, 
suffering  from  dangerous  and  perhaps  fatal  ill- 
ness, every  hour  expecting  to  bring  with  it  some 
fearful  change,  or  some  important  crisis?  and  if 
so,  when  you  were  compelled  to  leave  this  object 
of  your  tenderest  affection,  to  pursue  the  accus- 
tomed duties  of  your  daily  calling,  did  no  thought 
of  her  whom  you  had  left  upon  a  sick  and  dying 
bed,  ever  force  its  way  and  struggle  upward  in 
the  mind,  through  all  the  mass  of  opposing  ele- 
ments with  which  that  mind  was  filled?  did  the 
rising  sigh,  or  even  the  starting  tear,  never  re- 
mind you,  amid  your  busiest  hours,  and  most 
engrossing  occupations,  of  her  whom  you  had 
left  suffering  at  home  upon  a  bed  of  anguish? 
did  you  never  allude  to  her  situation,  never 
speak  upon  the  subject,  never  mention  her  name; 
in  short,  did  she  never  once  throughout  the  busy 
day,  so  much  as  cross  your  mind,  and  steal  a 


PREPARATION  FOR  HEAVEN.  179 

few  moments  from  the  pressing  occupations 
around  you?  Surely,  there  are  few,  perhaps 
there  are  none,  whose  hearts  are  not  devoid  of 
the  common  sympathies  of  our  nature,  who  will 
deny  that  such  things  have  been,  that  such  things 
are.  Nay,  more,  is  there  one  among  you,  who 
would  not  despise  the  man  who  should  confess 
that  there  is  no  person,  no  subject  of  sufficient 
interest,  to  divide  within  his  breast,  the  sove- 
reignty of  this  world's  business,  and  pursuits? 

Then,  brethren,  if  this  be  so,  why  is  it  other- 
wise with  regard  to  heaven?  Why  has  that 
high  subject  no  prominent  place  in  your  reflec- 
tions, no  interest  in  your  thoughts,  no  place  in 
your  conversation?  Why  does  your  mind  never 
revert  with  anxious  solicitude  to  that  happy 
kingdom,  and  inquire,  whether  you  are  walking 
in  the  road  which  leads  to  it?  The  answer  is 
obvious;  because  it  has  no  strong,  no  real  hold 
upon  your  heart;  every  worldly  duty,  and  plea- 
sure, and  person,  and  pursuit,  has  a  larger  por- 
tion of  your  affections  than  this  one,  this  great, 
this  all-important  subject;  and,  therefore,  while 
all  partake,  according  to  their  respective  places 
in  your  estimation,  of  your  time,  of  your  thoughts 


180  PREPARATION  FOR  HEAVEN. 

and  your  conversation,  this,  and  this  alone,  is 
overlooked  and  forgotten. 

But  we  must  pass  on  to  our  second  and  still 
more  important  inquiry.  Have  you  good  rea- 
son to  hope  that  you  are  heavenly  in  your  lives 
and  conduct? 

There  are,  indeed,  most  grievous  mistakes 
upon  this  point,  even  in  the  Christian  world. 
The  man  who  is  continually  occupied  in  the  pur- 
suits of  his  daily  calling,  is  apt  to  reply  to  such 
an  inquiry,  How  is  it  possible  for  me  to  be  hea- 
venly in  my  life  and  conduct?  If  I  were  a 
minister  of  religion,  or  if  my  time  were  my 
own,  and  I  could  devote  it  to  spiritual  research, 
or  spiritual  occupations,  then,  indeed,  I  might  be 
heavenly  in  my  daily  conduct,  but  now  it  is  not 
to  be  expected,  it  is  impossible. 

There  cannot,  brethren,  be  a  grosser  misap- 
prehension; for  observe,  every  portion  of  God's 
providential  arrangements,  proves  that  it  was  his 
intention  that  men  should  be  employed,  as  men 
are  employed,  when  innocently  engaged  in  the 
duties  of  their  worldly  calling;  and  therefore,  it 
is  evident,  that  if  God  ever  intended  that  we 
should  be  heavenly  while  on  earth,  he  intended 


PREPARATION  FOR  HEAVEN.  181 

we  should  be  so  while  m  those  calUngs.  If, 
therefore,  the  beUef  that  "  the  kingdom  of  God 
is  nigh  at  hand,"  be  an  influential  principle,  be 
assured  it  will  accompany  you  to  the  office,  and 
to  the  exchange,  as  certainly  as  to  the  house  of 
prayer,  or  to  the  sacramental  table.  And  what 
will  be  the  eflect? — that  you  will  be  as  superior 
to  the  mere  man  of  the  world  in  the  uprightness 
of  your  conduct,  the  honor  and  integrity  of  your 
transactions,  the  fairness  and  honesty  of  your 
dealings,  as  you  are  in  spiritual  knowledge  and 
in  heavenly  anticipations;  because  you  will  be 
constantly  living  as  on  the  borders  of  an  unseen 
world,  into  which  you  are  conscious  you  may 
at  any  one  moment  be  summoned,  and  the  joys, 
the  hopes,  and  anticipations  of  which,  mingle 
with  every  feeling  of  your  heart. 

If  you  are  not  thus  influenced,  be  assured 
that  you  are  not,  in  the  scriptural  sense  of  the 
phrase,  heavenly  in  your  lives  and  conduct,  you 
are  not,  as  the  true  people  of  God  have  always 
been,  "a  peculiar  people,"  forming,  in  the  midst 
of  the  world  in  which  they  are  placed,  a  living 
testimony  to  the  existence  of  another  world, 
infinitely  higher,  infinitely  better,  to  which  their 
hearts  and  hopes  are  tending. 
16 


182  PREPARATION  FOR  HEAVEN. 

Bear  this  in  mind,  then,  and  avoid  the  misap- 
prehension to  which  we  have  referred.  Re- 
member, that  we  are  not  advocating  the  absurd- 
ity, sometimes  unjustly  attributed  to  us,  that  the 
intelligent  man  of  business,  is  to  give  up  the 
counting-house  for  the  closet,  or  the  active 
tradesman,  resign  the  ledger  for  the  Bible,  the 
Hves  of  useful  members  of  society,  for  the  exist- 
ence of  useless  ascetics;  but  that  both  are  to 
carry  from  the  closet,  and  from  the  Bible,  those 
invaluable  principles,  which  exalt  and  dignify, 
and,  I  might  almost  say,  sanctify  the  common 
relationships,  and  the  every-day  pursuits,  of  the 
most  humble  walks  of  life,  and  that  both  will 
thus  be  enabled  to  glorify  God  the  most  abun- 
dantly in  the  station  to  which  it  has  pleased 
Him  to  call  them. 

And  now,  brethren,  having  before  us,  plain 
and  practical  definitions  of  these  things,  let  us 
proceed  to  that  personal  application,  that  heart- 
searching  view  of  them,  which  can  alone  render 
this  subject  profitable  to  our  souls.  No  doubt  I 
am  addressing  many,  in  whose  conduct,  as  far 
as  man  is  the  judge,  there  is,  perhaps,  nothing 
to  condemn,  in  whose  character,  little  to  disap- 
prove, to  whose  daily  intercourse   with  their 


PREPARATION  FOR  HEAVEN.  183 

fellow-men,  no  reasonable  exception  can  be 
taken,  and  yet,  were  they  to  speak  truly,  they 
would  be  compelled  to  confess,  that  they  have 
fallen  short  of  every  test  which  has  this  day 
been  applied  to  them,  A  man  seldom  rises 
above  his  principles,  and  such  men  are  perfectly 
conscious  that  there  is  nothing  heavenly,  nothing 
spiritual,  in  any  of  the  thoughts  of  their  mind, 
the  affections  of  their  heart,  the  principles  of 
their  lives.  They  have,  in  fact,  never  desired 
that  there  should  be;  they  have,  throughout 
life,  regulated  their  conduct  by  that  which,  per- 
haps, may  be  deemed  even  a  high  standard 
among  the  honorable  and  upright  men  of  the 
world,  but  which,  in  the  sight  of  God,  and 
when  seen  in  the  light  of  eternity,  is  so  low  a 
standard,  that  it  finds  no  place  in  the  Word,  or 
in  the  mind  of  the  holy  and  heart-searching 
Jehovah.  And  they  are  satisfied  with  this;  but, 
brethren,  do  not  deceive  yourselves,  God  is  not 
satisfied;  if  his  Word  be  true,  he  cannot  be 
satisfied.  He  has  said,  "My  son,  give  me  thy 
heart;"  and  while  you  have  given  him  the 
mere  profession  of  the  lips,  you  have,  perhaps, 
given  your  heart  to  any,  or  to  every  one,  of  his 
creatures,  in  preference  to  Himself      He  has 


184  PREPARATION  FOR  HEAVEN. 

declared  that  there  is  a  kingdom  nigh  unto  you, 
which  he  calls  "the  kingdom  of  God/'  and  into 
which  a  day,  an  hour,  a  moment,  is  sufficient  to' 
introduce  you:  and  He  has  urged  upon  you  the 
necessity  of  seeking  first  this  kingdom,  that  you 
may  stand  always  ready,  always  prepared,  for 
your  great  and  solemn  change.  You  acknow- 
ledge, that  this  has  never  formed  the  subject  of 
your  efforts,  and  your  desires,  but  you  are  con- 
tented, in  the  place  of  it,  to  point  to  your  rela- 
tive duties,  and  to  your  honest  and  honorable 
dealings,  and  to  expect  that  these,  which  have 
reference  only  to  the  world  which  now  is,  to 
the  kingdom  in  which  you  are  now  dwelling, 
should  be  accepted  of  God  as  a  meet  and  fitting 
preparation,  for  the  kingdom  of  eternity.  Sure- 
ly, upon  every  other  subject,  the  absurdity  of 
such  a  mode  of  reasoning  would  be  sufficiently 
apparent.  You  may,  for  instance,  have  been  a 
most  conscientious  man  of  business,  your  habits 
of  bartering  and  exchange,  of  buying  and  sell- 
ing, quite  unexceptionable,  but,  then,  in  heaven 
there  is  neither  buying  nor  selling;  what,  there- 
fore, can  this  profit  you  in  the  way  of  prepara- 
tion? You  may  have  been  a  most  intellectual 
man  of  science,  have  dived  into  all  its  secrets, 


PREPARATION  FOR  HEAVEN.  185 

and  have  searched  all  causes  and  all  effects,  but 
what  comparison  will  the  profoundest  discove- 
ries of  science,  bear  to  the  knowledge,  with 
which  the  first  moment  in  heaven,  will  endow 
the  enlightened  soul  of  the  poorest  and  most 
ignorant  peasant?  You  may  have  spoken  all 
languages,  but  what  will  the  most  perfect  ac- 
quirement of  all  the  languages  of  the  world, 
profit  you  in  that  kingdom,  which  the  confusion 
of  tongues  has  never  reached,  and  where  but 
one  tongue  is  ever  heard?  You  may  have  been 
a  most  excellent  parent,  or  dutiful  child,  but  in 
heaven  there  is  but  one  parent  and  one  family, 
and  the  only  virtues  you  have  ever  cultivated, 
will  there  find  no  employment.  You  may  have 
been  a  most  admirable  husband,  or  most  affec- 
tionate wife,  but  in  heaven  "there  is  neither 
marrying  nor  giving  in  marriage."  All  these 
things,  then,  praiseworthy  as  they  are — for  do 
not  mistake  me,  I  am  not  underrating  their 
value,  God  forbid — but  all  these  things  of  them- 
selves, and  practised  without  any  reference  to 
God's  will,  and  God's  Word,  can  form  no  pre- 
paration for  that  kingdom,  upon  the  very  brink 
of  which,  your  foot  is  at  this  moment  standing; 
and  if  your  next  step  were  to  be  within  the 
16* 


186  PREPARATION  FOR  HEAVEN. 

veil,  if  the  next  moment  were  to  find  you  in 
eternity,  I  do  not  scruple  to  say  that  any,  and 
that  all  these  virtues  and  endowments,  would 
be  utterly  unavailing,  to  secure  you  one  hour's 
participation  in  the  joys  of  that  glorious  inhe- 
ritance. 

Be  warned,  then,  brethren,  if  this  be  the  path 
which  you  are  treading,  it  cannot  lead  you  to 
our  Father's  kingdom.  It  may  lead  to  honor,  re- 
spectability and  wealth;  you  may  be  loved,  and 
applauded,  and  aduiired,  but  then,  as  our  Lord 
himself  said,  "  Ye  have  received  your  consola- 
tion;" St.  Luke,  vi,  24;  you  must  not,  you  can- 
not complain,  that  while  you  have  guided  your 
conduct  by  the  opinions  and  manners  of  one 
kingdom,  you  have  missed,  how  widely  and  irre- 
vocably missed  the  other.  The  only  way  to  the 
kingdom  of  which  I  speak,  lies  through  the 
close,  and  intimate,  and  personal  union  with  that 
blessed  Redeemer  who  hath  declared, "  No  man 
Cometh  unto  the  Father,  but  by  me."  The  only 
preparation  for  that  kingdom,  must  commence 
in  that  change  of  heart,  that  renewal  of  heart, 
that  preparation  of  heart,  which  the  Word  of 
God  assures  us  is  "  from  the  Lord."  The  only 
acquirements  which  can  fit  you  for  a  participa- 


PREPARATION  FOR  HEAVEN.  187 

tion  ill  that  kingdom,  is  the  acquirement  of  those 
feelings  of  a  sincere  and  fervent  love  to  God,  in 
Christ  Jesus  our  Lord,  which  regulates  the  con- 
duct, influences  the  affections, conforms  the  whole 
mind,  and  temper,  and  disposition,  and  man,  to 
the  mind  which  was  in  Christ  Jesus,  and  to  the 
image  of  our  God.  The  only  habits  which, 
even  while  on  earth,  can  promote  the  same 
blessed  end,  are  the  habits  of  a  holy  obedience 
to  the  will  of  our  God,  of  frequent  and  intimate 
communion  with  Him,  and  of  the  delightful  ex- 
ercise of  praising  His  glorious  name.  Duties 
and  occupations  which,  by  anticipating,  even 
while  on  earth,  in  some  measure,  the  duties  and 
occupations,  and  pursuits  of  heaven,  will  indeed 
qualify  you  for  its  eternal  and  infinitely  blessed 
abodes — those  abodes  which  the  most  perfect 
performance  of  duties  could  never  merit,  but 
which  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  has  purchased  for 
his  believing  and  obeying  followers,  and  in  which 
he  is  even  now  awaiting  the  hour,  when  the 
"  everlasting  doors'^  shall  be  lifted  up,  and  his 
redeemed  people  shall  enter  in. 


18S 


SERMOxN  XL 

AIDS  TO  SELF-KNOWLEDGE. 


2  Kings,  viii,  13. 


"  AND    HAZAEL    SAID,  BUT    WHAt!    IS    THY    SERVANT   A 
DOG,  THAT  HE  SHOULD  DO  THIS  GREAT  THING?" 


Of  all  knowledge,  that  which  we  learn  with 
the  greatest  difficulty,  and  dwell  upon  the  most 
reluctantly,  and  forget  the  most  readily,  is  the 
knowledge  of  our  own  hearts.  The  man  of  the 
world  never,  in  the  Christian's  meaning  of  the 
phrase,  knows  himself;  he  has  no  line  to  fathom, 
no  gauge  to  measure,  no  eye  to  see,  no  heart  to 
conceive,  the  undiscovered  depths  of  iniquity 
which  lie  within.  Even  the  child  of  God  is  oft- 
times  ignorant  of  this  important  knowledge,  or 
learns  it  not,  except  by  "  line  upon  line,  precept 
upon  precept,"  failure  upon  failure,  sin  upon 
sin,  it  is  taught  him  by  the  unerring  spirit  of  wis- 
dom and  truth. 


AIDS  TO  SELF-KNOWLEDGE.  189 

The  striking  incident  from  wtiich  the  text  is 
taken,  will  well  illustrate  the  truth  of  these  re- 
marks, and  at  the  same  time  by  God's  grace, 
afford  us  an  opportunity  of  offering  a  few  prac- 
tical lessons  for  the  attainment  of  one  of  the 
most  desirable  objects  which  can  interest  the 
true  Christian — the  knowledge  of  himself. 

We  read  at  the  seventh  verse  of  the  chapter 
before  us,  that  Benhadad,  the  king  of  Syria,  was 
sick,  and  it  was  told  him  that  Elisha,  the  pro- 
phet, was  come  down  to  Damascus.  Benhadad 
although  an  idolater,  had  probably  often  heard 
Naaman,  his  captain  of  the  host,  whose  leprosy 
had  been  miraculously  cured  by  Elisha,  speak  of 
the  wonder-working  powers  of  this  man  of 
God;  he  had  himself  suffered  by  the  supernatu- 
ral knowledge  of  the  prophet,  and  had,  not  long 
before,  tried,  although  unsuccessfully,  to  destroy 
him;  but  feeling  anxious  to  ascertain  the  result 
of  his  present  sickness,  he  determines  to  inquire 
of  this  prophet  of  the  God  of  Israel.  Accord- 
ingly, "  The  king  said  to  Hazael,  Take  a  pre- 
sent in  thine  hand  and  go,  meet  the  man  of 
God,  and  inquire  of  the  Lord,  by  him  saying, 
Shall  I  recover  of  this  disease?'^  "  So  Hazael 
went  to  meet  the  prophet,  with  a  present  of 


190  AIDS  TO  SELF-KNOWLEDGE. 

every  good  thing  in  Damascus,  forty  camels  bur- 
den, and  came  and  stood  before  him,  and  said, 
Thy  son,  Benhadad,  king  of  Syria,  hath  sent 
me  to  thee,  saying.  Shall  I  recover  of  this  dis- 
ease?" We  will  not  stay  to  comment  vipon  the 
difference  of  the  feelings,  with  which  the  people 
of  God  are  regarded  in  the  days  of  affliction, 
from  those  with  which  they  are  beheld  in  the 
unclouded  hour  of  health  and  happiness.  You, 
who  like  to  follow  up  the  reflection,  will  find  in  the 
sixth  chapter,  this  same  king,  Benhadad,  sending 
an  armed  force  to  bring  the  prophet  of  the  Lord 
to  him,  eit.her  dead  or  alive,  as  one  of  his  most 
formidable  opponents;  but,  now  from  the  bed 
of  sickness,  he  cannot  send  too  humbly,  or  too 
kindly,  "  Thy  son,  Benhadad,'^  to  secure  the 
good  offices  of  one  who  has  the  Lord  for  his 
God. 

As  soon  as  Hazael  had  made  the  inquiry, 
with  which  his  master  had  charged  him,  the 
prophet  replies,  '^  Go,  say  unto  him.  Thou  may- 
est  surely  recover;  howbeit  the  Lord  hath 
showed  me  that  he  shall  surely  die;"  obviously 
inferring,  that  there  was  nothing  mortal  in  the 
malady,  with  which  the  King  was  afflicted,  and 
that  therefore,  as  regarded  natural  causes,  he 


AIDS  TO  SELF-KNOWLEDGE.  191 

might  unquestionably  recover;  but  that,  not- 
withstanding this,  the  prophet  foresaw  that  he 
should  die.  And  Hazael  "settled  his  counte- 
nance steadfastly,"  i.  e.  attempted  to  look  grave 
and  sorrowful  at  this  mournful  intelligence, 
until,  from  the  man  of  God  gazing  calmly  in  his 
face,  and  seeing  through  his  hypocrisy,  "  he  was 
ashamed."  We  do  not  apprehend  that  there 
was  any  intention  at  that  moment  in  the  heart 
of  Hazael,  of  engaging  in  those  sins,  of  which  he 
was  afterwards  guilty,  but  that  there  was  a 
degree  of  satisfaction  at  the  predicted  death  of 
his  master,  which  he  found  it  difficult  to  repress. 
Then,  we  are  told,  "  the  man  of  God  wept." 
"  And  Hazael  said.  Why  weepest  my  Lord  ? 
And  he  answered.  Because  I  know  the  evil  that 
thou  wilt  do  to  the  children  of  Israel;  their 
strong-holds  wilt  thou  set  on  fire,  and  their 
young  men  wilt  thou  slay  with  the  sword,  and 
wilt  dash  their  children,  and  rip  up  their  women 
with  child."  "And  Hazael  said,  But  what! 
is  thy  servant  a  dog,  that  he  should  do  this 
great  thing?  And  Elisha  answered.  The  Lord 
hath  showed  me  that  thou  shalt  be  king  over 
Syria."  The  prophet  enters  into  no  particulars; 
he  does    not  predict  the  atrocious   means  by 


192  AIDS  TO  SELF-KNOWLEDGE. 

which  he  should  succeed  to  the  sovereign  pow- 
er: he  says  nothing  that  could  instigate  Hazael 
to  those  deeds  which  he  had  foretold,  and  thus ' 
cause  the  prediction  to  work  its  own  fulfilment; 
he  simply  tells  him,  that  he  knows  he  shall  be 
king,  and  that  the  day  of  prosperity  will  decide, 
whether  he  be  indeed  capable  of  the  enormities, 
which  the  prophet  had  foretold.  The  subse- 
quent events  are  very  briefly  recounted.  Ha- 
zael returned  to  his  master,  and  carried  with  him 
a  false  report  of  what  the  prophet  had  said, 
assuring  him  not  that  he  might  recover,  which 
Elisha  had  really  declared,  but  that  he  certainly 
should  recover,  which  Elisha  had  as  distinctly 
denied.  Within  four-and  twenty  hours  of  his 
arrival,  Hazael  commences  upon  his  work  of 
blood,  by  the  murder  of  his  benefactor;  for  we 
are  told,  that  "  He  took  a  thick  cloth,  and  dipped 
it  in  water,  and  spread  it  over  Benhadad's  face," 
while  lying  either  asleep  or  helpless  through  the 
debilitating  effects  of  his  sickness,  "  so  that  he 
died;  and  Hazael  reigned  in  his  stead."  2  Kings 
viii,  15. 

It  is  not  my  intention,  to  dwell  upon  the  par- 
ticulars of  this  remarkable  history;  the  only 
point  to  which  I  wish  to  direct  your  attention,  is 


AIDS  TO  SELF-KNOWLEDGE.  193 

the  utter  ignorance,  the  absolute  incredulity  of 
Hazael  with  regard  to  those  things  that  were  in 
his  heart,  and  which,  in  so  short  a  period,  were 
developed  in  his  conduct. 

When  the  prophet  foretells  his  guilt,  Hazael 
appears  absolutely  lost  in  astonishment  at  the 
improbability  of  such  a  charge;  he  does  not 
think  it  enough  to  deny  the  possibility  in  the 
strongest  and  plainest  manner,  but  he  asks, 
almost  scoffingly,  "  But  what!  is  thy  servant  a 
dog,  that  he  should  do  this?"  Have  I  changed 
my  nature,  am  I  become  a  wild  beast,  that  you 
should  consider  me  even  capable  of  actions  such 
as  these?  Yet,  as  you  have  seen,  within  four- 
and-twenty  hours,  he  fully  verified  all  that  the 
prophet  had  spoken;  and  by  the  means  which 
he  adopted  to  obtain  the  throne,  gave  fearful 
promise  of  what  might  be  expected  when  he 
had  secured  it.  While,  from  his  subsequent 
history,  we  learn  that  such  were  his  cruelties 
and  his  oppressions  of  the  house  of  Israel,  so 
widely  depopulating,  and  so  effectually  destruc- 
tive, that  he  left  them  but  "  fifty  horsemen,  and 
ten  chariots,  and  ten  thousand  foot-men,"  for,  to 
use  the  expressive  language  of  the  inspired  his- 
17 


194  AIDS  TO  SELF-KNOWLEDGE. 

torian,  "he  had  made  them  like  the  dust  by- 
threshing."  2  Kings  xiii,  3 — 7. 

Now,  my  brethern,  to  apply  this  instructive 
narrative  to  ourselves. 

May  we  not,  first,  deduce  at  least  this  impor- 
tant lesson  from  it,  that  there  are  the  germs  of 
sins  in  the  heart  of  man,  of  which  he  has  him- 
self, perhaps,  no  conception,  but  which  require 
only  the  day  of  temptation,  to  nurture  them  up 
into  the  most  frightful  and  prolific  fruitfulness. 
It  was  well  said,  by  one  of  old,  that,  "  It  is  the 
hot  sun  which  draws  out  the  adder."  When 
Hazael  declares  himself  incapable  of  the  atroci- 
ties which  Elisha  had  predicted,  the  prophet 
contents  himself  with  the  reply,  "The  Lord 
hath  showed  me  that  thou  shalt  be  king."  The 
prophet  knew  enough  of  human  nature  to  know, 
that  if  these  things  were  in  the  heart  of  Hazael, 
the  day  of  prosperity  would  develop  them;  and, 
in  this  single  sentence,  gave  him  warning 
enough,  had  Hazael  been  a  follower  of  the  God 
of  Israel,  to  send  him  to  his  own  heart,  in  the 
way  of  self-examination,  and  to  a  throne  of 
mercy,  where  he  might  have  found  grace  to  help 
him  in  his  hour  of  need,  and  strength  to  with- 


AIDS  TO  SELF-KNOWLEDGE.  195 

Stand  the  fearful  assault  of  the  evil  one,  which 
was  awaiting  him. 

Such,  doubtless,  was  the  prophet's  intention, 
and  such  shall  be  my  endeavor,  in  the  remain- 
ing portion  of  this  discourse,  in  which  I  shall 
attempt  to  offer  you  some  plain  and  practical 
rules,  by  which  you  may  be  assisted  in  discover- 
ing the  sins  which  are  in  your  heart,  before, 
like  Hazael,  you  are  taught  them,  by  the  fear- 
ful exhibition  of  them,  in  actual  practice  and 
positive  transgression. 

First,  then,  establish  it  as  a  principle  in  your 
own  mind,  that  you  are  not  beyond  the  reach  of 
any  temptation,  however  degrading,  of  any  sin, 
however  debasing,  by  which  the  fallen  children 
of  Adam  can  be  led  astray.  It  is  from  an  over- 
weening, an  unscriptural  security,  that  men  are 
more  often  ruined,  than  from  almost  any  other 
weakness  of  our  fallen  nature.  Let  the  Word 
of  God,  or  the  preacher  of  that  Word,  describe 
the  depravity,  or  the  deceits  of  the  human  heart 
in  what  terms  he  may;  let  him  prove  it  by  argu- 
ment: let  him  illustrate  it  by  experience;  let 
him  establish  it  by  the  express  declaration  of  the 
living  God,  it  matters  not;  a  large  portion  of  his 
hearers  will  always  rebel  against  it,  will  consi- 


196  AIDS  TO  SELF-KNOWLEDGE. 

der  it  derogatory  to  the  boasted  dignity  of 
human  nature,  and  disparaging  to  themselves; 
and  when  warned  of  their  danger,  when  cau- 
tioned against  those  sins  which  do  so  easily  be- 
set them,  such  is  their  bUndness,  that  the  first 
impulse  of  their  hearts  is, "  Am  I  a  dog,  that  I 
should  do  this?^' 

But,  brethren,  we  trust  that  many  among  you 
have  not  so  learned  Christ;  we  trust  you  do  not 
imagine  that,  if  God's  grace  were  withheld, 
there  is  any  height  of  impiety  to  which  you 
might  not  soar,  any  depth  of  iniquity  to  which 
you  might  not  sink;  for,  be  assured,  that  it  is  a 
peculiar  feature  in  God's  children,  to  be  tho- 
roughly convinced  of  this  great  truth.  The  be- 
hef  of  it,  is  perfectly  consistent  with  the  fullest 
dependence  upon  God,  for  grace  to  enable  them 
to  resist  these  evils,  and  the  fullest  assurance 
that,  thus  assisted,  they  shall  resist  them.  Yet 
is  it  a  delighful  testimony  to  the  true  humility 
of  their  hearts,  when  they  feel  every  day  and 
every  hour,  their  liability  even  to  the  widest 
departures  from  God,  and  their  sense  of  this  lia- 
bility increasing,  even  while  the  probability  of 
it  is  daily  diminishing.  How  beautifully  was 
this  evidenced  in   the  Apostles;  although  only 


AIDS  TO  SELF-KNOWLEDGE.  197 

one  of  the  twelve  could  have  imagined  himself 
capable  of  betraying  his  Master,  every  one  of 
the  twelve,  asked  in  sincerity,  "  Lord,  is  it  I?" 
knowing  that  there  were  depths  in  his  heart, 
which  Christ  alone  could  fathom.  So  fully  im- 
pressed was  the  martyr  Bradford  with  the  impor- 
tant truth  of  which  we  are  speaking,  that 
according  to  a  well-known  anecdote,  while  see- 
ing a  criminal  carried  past  to  execution,  he  could 
not  help  crying  aloud,  "  There,  but  for  Divine 
grace,  goes  John  Bradford."  He  felt  that  it 
was  God,  and  God  alone,  who,  as  he  had  at  first 
made  him  to  differ,  so  was  he  daily  keeping  him 
by  his  restraining  grace,  from  those  sins  to  which 
the  flesh  was  continually  lusting.  How  remark- 
able a  contrast  does  this  form,  to  the  unhappy 
man  of  whose  history  we  have  been  speaking. 
The  one,  blinded  by  the  spirit  of  the  world,  be- 
lieving that  his  very  nature  must  be  changed, 
before  he  could  be  guilty  of  such  enormities  as 
had  been  predicted;  the  other,  enlightened  by 
the  Spirit  of  God,  knowing  that  there  was  no 
iniquity  too  great,  no  sin  too  heinous,  for  his 
fallen  nature  to  commit,  if  he  were  not  "kept  by 
the  power  of  God,  through  faith  unto  salva- 
tion." 

17* 


198  AIDS  TO  SELF-KNOWLEDGE. 

But,  important  as  it  is  to  establish  this  prin- 
ciple in  your  minds,  that  it  may  lead  you  the 
more  earnestly  to  watchfulness  and  prayer;  if 
you  are  really  desirous  to  know  your  own  hearts 
in  this  matter,  it  will  not  content  you  to  attain  to 
this  kind  of  general  knowledge  of  yourselves. 
You  will  desire  something  more  specific,  you 
will  not  be  satisfied  with  knowing  that  there  is 
no  part  of  the  fortress  which  is  absolutely  im- 
pregnable; but  you  will  be  anxious,  like  a  skilful 
general,  to  ascertain,  in  your  own  individual 
case,  which  are  the  weakest  points,  where  the 
assaults  of  the  enemy  shall  be  most  effectual, 
and  the  fiery  darts  of  the  wicked  one  take  the 
most  fatal  effect. 

This  is  sometimes  a  very  difficult  matter  to 
determine,  even  for  those  who  are  the  most  sin- 
cerely and  conscientiously  desirous  to  ascertain 
it.  You  are,  perhaps,  externally  at  least,  a  good 
deal  under  the  restraining  power  of  religion, 
your  most  besetting  sins  are  so  cut,  and  pruned, 
and  clipped,  and  kept  down  by  different  mo- 
tives, some  worldly  and  some  religious,  which, 
in  the  present  state  of  Christian  society,  are 
more  or  less  brought  to  bear  upon  all  men,  that 
it  may  not  be  easy,  even  for  yourselves  to  deter- 


AIDS  TO  SELF-KNOWLEDGE.  199 

mine,  what  those  sins  are  which  are  in  your 
hearts,  and  through  which  your  spiritual  enemy 
can  make  his  most  successful  attacks.  The 
Apostle  to  the  Hebrews,  seems  to  have  an  espe- 
cial reference  to  this  state  of  mind,  when  he 
says,  "Looking  diligently,  ****  lest  any  root  of 
bitterness  springing  up,  trouble  you,  and  thereby 
many  be  defiled.''  Heb.  xii,  15.  Search  care- 
fully, lest  although  the  branches  have  been  cut 
off,  and  even  the  stem  has  been  levelled,  the 
root  may  remain  in  the  ground  uneradicated; 
and,  lest  this  "  root  of  bitterness"  should,  if  it 
lie  undiscovered  in  the  heart,  one  day  again 
spring  up,  and  bear  a  fearful  and  a  deadly  har- 
vest. 

We  proceed,  then,  to  assist  you  to  ascertain, 
in  your  own  particular  case — for  this  will  greatly 
vary — w6at  is  this  "  root  of  bitterness,"  and 
what  the  class  to  which  it  belongs. 

First,  if  you  have  at  different  times,  while 
under  the  preaching  of  the  Word  of  God,  or  in 
trouble  or  difficulty,  or  in  any  other  of  the  cir- 
cumstances of  life,  felt  a  desire  to  know  more  of 
God,  to  close  with  his  offers  of  salvation,  or,  in 
the  language  of  Scripture,  to  come  to  Christ,  re- 
collect what  was  that  sin,  or  what  were  those 


200  AIDS  TO  SELF-KNOWLEDGE. 

sins — for  there  may  have  been  more  than  one, 
although  there  is  usually  one,  especially  promi- 
nent upon  such  occasions — which  prevented 
you  from  closing  with  the  offers  of  salvation, 
and  being  made  one  with  Christ,  and  Christ 
with  you.  Why  did  you  not  at  that  time  come? 
What  was  it  which  kept  you  back?  Was  it,  as 
with  the  young  man  whom  Jesus  loved,  your 
worldliness?  Was  it,  as  with  Judas,  your  covet- 
ousness?  Was  it,  as  with  Herod,  your  licen- 
tiousness? Was  it,  as  with  Pilate,  your  fear  of 
the  world?  Was  it,  as  with  Hazael,  your  am- 
bition? Was  it,  as  with  thousands,  your  immo- 
ral habits,  or  your  worldly  companions?  Be 
assured,  that  whatever  that  sin  was,  which, 
when  God  was  reasoning  with  your  soul,  was 
effectual  in  keeping  you  back  from  Christ,  th'e 
temptation  to  that  sin,  however  repressed  and 
kept  under,  forms  one  of  your  greatest  present 
dangers,  is  still  lying  hidden  as  a  root  under 
ground,  and  is  one  of  the  points  from  which  the 
devil  most  successfully  urges  his  attacks. 

Again;  to  learn  still  more  distinctly  what 
these  roots  of  bitterness  are  in  your  heart,  ob- 
serve these  two  criteria: — Remark  upon  what 
subjects  are  your  thoughts  the  most  frequently 


AIDS  TO  SELF-KNOWLEDGE.  201 

engaged,  while  in  the  midst  of  your  occupations. 
Your  thoughts  are  the  immediate  issues  of  your 
soul;  as  his  thoughts  are,  so  is  the  man;  and  as 
the  first  crush  of  the  grape  gives  its  strongest 
and  sweetest  flavor,  so  the  first  gush  of  thought, 
close  to  the  fountain-head,  before  it  has  had 
time  for  mingling,  or  diluting,  or  diverting  from 
external  circumstances,  or  habits  of  self  control, 
will,  more  than  anything  else,  tend  to  discover 
to  you  the  nature  of  the  fount  from  which  it 
flows.  The  thoughts  of  the  trifler,  let  him  be 
employed  how  he  may,  are  for  ever  breaking 
forth  upon  his  dress,  his  furniture,  his  equipage, 
his  follies;  the  thoughts  of  the  covetous,  are,  in 
in  the  same  manner,  continually  returning  to  his 
profits,  his  wealth,  his  accumulations;  of  the 
licentious,  to  his  past  enjoyments  or  coming 
delights;  of  the  designing,  to  his  future  schemes. 
Mark,  then,  to  what  subject  your  thoughts, 
when  disentangled  from  immediate  occupation, 
most  instinctively  turn,  or  most  naturally  and 
quickly  fly,  and,  by  God's  grace,  you  will  not 
long  remain  in  ignorance  of  what  is  in  your 
heart.  You  will  ascertain,  if  you  examine 
honestly,  the  state  of  the  fountain,  by  the  incipi- 
ent state  of  the  stream  which  gushes  from  it.— 


202  AIDS  TO  SELF-KNOWLEDGE. 

If  that  be  clear  and  pellucid,  or  if  that  be  miid- 
ded  and  troubled,  you  cannot  remain  long  in 
doubt  of  the  state  of  the  fountain-head. 

But  again;  let  me  offer  another  criterion. — 
Observe  what  sin  most  interrupts  you  when 
engaged  in  holy  duties,  in  prayer,  in  reading,  in 
hearing  the  Word  of  God.  Many  a  sin,  the 
root  of  which  lies  concealed  in  the  recesses  of 
the  heart,  and  of  which,  at  other  times,  we 
never  think,  springs  up  at  moments  such  as 
these,  by  the  nurturing  influences  of  our  spiri- 
tual enemy;  while  that  enemy  obtains  a  tempo- 
rary triumph,  by  the  very  unexpectedness,  and 
improbability  of  the  attack.  Learn,  therefore, 
to  turn  even  these  temptations  of  Satan,  to  the 
spiritual  good  of  your  soul;  let  them  teach  you 
how  much  of  evil,  even  of  the  worst  of  evils,  of 
actual  profaneness  and  blasphemy,  of  atheism 
and  hypocrisy,  of  insincerity  and  uncleanness,  of 
ambition  and  worldliness,  remains  in  the  heart, 
or  can  find  entrance  into  the  mind,  even  of  the 
renewed  children  of  God,  and  let  this  humble 
you,  and  send  you  again  and  again,  to  the  blood 
of  sprinkling  for  pardon,  and  to  the  throne  of 
grace  for  strength. 

Lastly,  brethren,  having  discovered  by  such 


AIDS  TO  SELF-KNOWLEDGE.  203 

means  as  have  now  been  pointed  out,  or  by  the 
still  more  painful  method  of  actual  transgression, 
what  are  those  secret  roots  of  bitterness  which 
lie  beneath  the  soil,  always  watching  a  favora- 
ble moment  to  shoot  forth  and  spring  up,  let  us 
inquire  what  should  be  our  conduct  with  regard 
to  them,  how  may  we  best  hope,  by  God's  grace, 
to  succeed  in  utterly  eradicating  them. 

Let  us,  to  help  us  in  the  inquiry,  look  at  the 
examples  of  the  holy  men  of  old.  The  great 
sin  to  which  St.  Paul,  in  the  days  of  his  spiritual 
darkness,  had  been  tempted,  and  by  which  he 
had  so  fearfully  been  led  away  captive,  was  the 
sin  of  persecution;  now  you  will  observe,  that 
in  his  after-life,  he  never  forgot  this;  in  all  his 
confessions,  the  persecuting  spirit  which  had 
once  led  him  astray,  finds  a  prominent  place. — 
Thus  we  hear  him  at  one  time  say,  "When  the 
blood  of  thy  martyr  Stephen  was  shed,  I  also 
was  standing  by,  and  consenting  unto  his 
death?"  Acts  xii,  20;  at  another,  "who  was  be- 
fore a  blasphemer  and  a  persecutor."  1  Tim.  i, 
13.  And  again,  on  two  different  occasions, 
"  who  am  not  meet  to  be  called  an  apostle, 
because  I  persecuted  the  Church  of  God."  1  Cor. 
XV,  9;  Gal.  i,  13.    Whatever  other  sins  he  omit- 


204  AIDS  TO  SELF-KNOWLEDGE. 

ted  to  enumerate,  this  was  never  forgotten,  pro- 
ving how  prominent  a  situation  it  held  in  his 
recollection  and  thoughts.  It  had,  no  doubt, 
been  long  since  repented  of,  long  since  blotted 
out  in  the  pardoning  blood  of  Jesus,  expunged 
from  the  book  of  God's  remembrance;  but  it 
was  never  eradicated  from  his  own  heart.  So 
let  it  be  with  yourselves;  the  best  preservative 
against  the  future  inroads  of  sin,  is  to  retain  in 
the  memory,  and  in  the  heart,  a  humbling,  peni- 
tent, soul-abasing  recollection  of  former  trans- 
gressions. While  rejoicing  in  the  fullest  assu- 
rance, for  that  is  what  St.  Paul  did,  that  you 
have  obtained  mercy,  that  you  are  actually  and 
undoubtedly  pardoned,  let  the  recollection  teach 
you,  with  a  daily  increasing  gratitude  to  God,  a 
daily  increasing  distrust  of  self;  let  it  lead  you 
to  the  duty  of  obeying  the  Apostolical  injunc- 
tion, "  See  that  ye  walk  circumspectly;"  Ephes. 
V,  15;  and  there  are  few  ways  of  doing  this  more 
effectually,  than  by  cultivating  this  recollected- 
ness  of  mind  with  regard  to  former  sins,  for  it 
will  teach  you  to  fly,  as  from  a  pestilence,  every 
place,  every  person,  every  pleasure,  every  em- 
ployment, which  has,  on  past  occasions,  been  to 
you  a  cause,  or  an  encouragement  of  evil.    Re- 


AIDS  TO  SELF-KNOWLEDGE.  205 

member,  as  a  fact  which  cannot  be  questioned, 
that  many  a  sin,  the  very  apprehension  of  which 
you  would  ridicule  to-day,  may,  if  God  permit, 
be  committed  by  you  to-morrow.  Therefore, 
"  be  not  high-minded,  but  fear."  Not  only  keep 
this  humbling  recollection  of  your  past  trans- 
gressions in  your  mind,  but  dread  every  ap- 
proach to  those  sins  which  have  so  easily  beset 
you,  and  the  roots  of  which  may,  perhaps,  still 
lie  undiscovered  in  your  heart.  How  strikingly 
^  was  this  state  of  mind  exhibited  by  the  Apostle 
Peter,  after  his  repentance.  Before  his  fall,  his 
great  temptation  appears  to  have  been,  a  false 
and  carnal  security;  so  confident  was  he  of  his 
own  strength,  so  certain  that  he  should  never 
desert  his  Master,  that  his  answer,  when  warned 
of  his  danger,  was,  in  presumption  and  certainty, 
little  short  of  that  of  Hazael,  "  Though  all  men 
forsake  thee,  yet  will  not  I."  But  after  his 
fall  and  his  recovery,  even  the  thrice-repeated 
inquiry  of  our  Lord,  "  Lovest  thou  me  more 
than  these?"  almost,  as  it  were,  inviting  him  to 
a  comparison  between  others  and  himself,  could 
draw  from  him  not  one  word  that  savored  of  his 
former  sin;  he  had  learnt,  painfullly  learnt,  to 
18 


206  AIDS  TO  SELF-KNOWLEDGE. 

make  no  more  comparisons;  so  circumspect,  so 
careful,  so  humble  had  he  now  become,  and  so 
anxious  to  keep  at  the  greatest  possible  distance, 
from  all  that  had  once  been  his  peril  and  his 
ruin. 

Follow,  then,  these  great  examples,  and 
though  the  flesh  will  still,  even  in  the  most  ad- 
vanced Christian,  war  against  the  Spirit,  it  shall 
no  longer  overcome.  Stronger,  far  stronger  is  He 
that  is  with  you,  than  all  who  are  against  you; 
and  as  you  go  forward  in  the  Christian  life, 
walking  closely  with  your  God,  holding,  as  it 
were,  by  the  hand,  your  guiding  and  compas- 
sionate Saviour,  who  has  already  taken  away 
the  condemning  power  of  your  sin,  the  reigning 
power  of  it  shall  be  daily  weakened,  the  roots 
of  bitterness  daily  dug  up  and  cast  out,  and  the 
good  seed  shall  bring  forth  daily,  more  and  more 
abundantly,  to  the  glory  of  your  heavenly  Fa- 
ther. Until,  when  the  journey  draws  to  a  close, 
you  shall  find,  to  your  unutterable  and  everlast- 
ing happiness,  that  every  sin  is  vanquished, 
every  enemy  overcome,  and  that  your  place  is 
appointed  you  among  that  "glorious  Church, 
not  having  spot  nor  wrinkle  nor  any  such  thing; 


AIDS  TO  SELF-KNOWLEDGE.  207 

but  holy  and  without  blemish,"  Ephes.  v,  27; 
which  the  Redeemer,  having  purchased  with  his 
blood,  shall  present  unto  himself,  as  the  partner 
both  of  his  perfections  and  his  joys,  throughout 
eternity. 


208 


SERMON  XII. 

THE  PENITENT  THIEF. 


St.  Luke  xxiii,  42. 

"AND  HE  SAID  UNTO  JESUS,  LORD,  REMEMBER  ME  WHEN 
THOU  COMEST  INTO  THY  KINGDOM." 

The  chapter  from  which  the  text  is  taken, 
presents  us  with  the  most  concise,  yet  affecting 
detail,  of  our  Lord's  sufferings  and  death  to  be 
met  with  in  Holy  Writ.  We  behold  him  in  the 
presence  of  Pilate  and  of  Herod,  when, "  as  a 
sheep  before  her  shearers  is  dumb,  so  he  opened 
not  his  mouth."  We  see  him,  after  the  unjust 
sentence  had  been  passed  upon  him,  so  regard- 
less of  his  own  approaching  agonies,  that,  while 
led  "  as  a  lamb  to  the  slaughter,^'  he  was  able 
to  warn,  to  exhort,  to  counsel,  and  to  comfort 
others,  as  if  their  woes,  and  theirs  alone,  were 
the  pangs  that  pierced  his  heart.  But  the  most 
triumphant  act  of  our  Lord's  earthly  sojourn. 


THE  PENITENT  THIEF.  209 

the  act  in  which  his  mercy  and  love,  his  divinity 
and  power,  shone  out  with  the  richest  histre,  as 
the  last  rays  of  the  setting  sun,  surpass  in  love- 
liness all  its  mid-day  splendor,  was  the  act  which 
fulfilled,  and  abundantly  more  than  fulfilled,  the 
petition  of  the  text. 

May  the  same  Spirit  who  inspired  the  faith 
and  dictated  the  language  of  that  petition,  be 
with  us  while  considering  it,  and  enable  us  to 
feel  something  of  that  holy  love  and  confidence 
which,  under  such  different  and  far  less  encou- 
raging circumstances,  possessed  the  heart  of  him 
who  offered  it. 

In  meditating,  however,  upon  this  remarkable 
incident,  we  must  bear  in  mind,  that  perhaps, 
no  circumstance  of  our  Lord's  life,  has  been  so 
much  misinterpreted  and  abused,  as  the  conver- 
sion and  pardon  of  the  thief  on  the  cross.  Per- 
sons living  a  life  of  idleness  and  thoughtlessness, 
when  for  a  passing  moment  troubled  by  the 
apprehensions  of  death  and  eternity,  comfort 
themselves  with  the  recollection  of  this  dying 
malefactor,  and  believe  that,  because  he  so  rea- 
dily obtained  mercy,  they  shall  experience  no 
difficulty  in  securing  it.  Others,  again,  who 
have  sunk  still  deeper  into  sin,  who  have  har- 
18* 


210  THE  PENITENT  THIEF. 

dened  their  hearts  against  conviction,  and  are 
living  in  utter  hostility  to  the  Saviour  of  whom  we 
speak,  if  ever  they  are  disturbed  by  compunctious 
visitings  of  conscience,  quiet  these  intrusions  by 
the  narrative  before  us,  vainly  hoping  that  what 
our  Lord  once  did,  and  but  once,  under  circum- 
stances the  most  peculiar  and  remarkable  that 
ever  occurred  since  the  foundation  of  the  world, 
he  is  equally  ready,  at  all  times,  and  under  any 
circumstances,  to  do  again.  While  even  the 
habitual  formalist,  the  man  who  for  years  in  suc- 
cession attends  the  means  of  grace,  and  the 
ordinances  of  God,  without  deriving  or  attempt- 
ing to  derive  the  benefits  they  are  intended  to 
impart,  without  knowing  more,  or  loving  more, 
or  obeying  more,  than  he  did  when  first  he  heard 
the  name  of  Christ,  still  derives  confidence  from 
the  pardon  of  the  dying  malefactor;  and  should 
he  think  at  all  upon  the  peril  and  uncertainty 
in  which  he  lives,  consoles  himself  with  the 
idea,  that  if  the  last  hours  of  the  cross  were 
sufficiently  early  for  the  penitent  thief,  the 
first  hours  of  sicknessj  the  first  intimation  of 
danger,  will  assuredly  be  sufficiently  early  for 
himself. 

It  is,  then,  as  much  with  the  desire  of  disa- 


THE  PENITENT  THIEF.  211 

busing  your  minds  of  all  such  misappropria- 
tions of  this  instructive  incident,  as  of  bringing 
peace  to  the  troubled  soul,  and  comfort  to  the 
heart  of  the  truly  contrite,  humble,  believing 
penitent,  that  we  have  selected  the  case  in  ques- 
tion. 

Our  endeavor  shall  be, 

I.  To  point  out  that,  so  far  from  the  example 
before  us,  tending  to  encourage  delay  in  the 
great  work  of  repentance,  and  of  turning  the 
heart  to  God,  if  we  attentively  analyse  the  peni- 
tence of  the  dying  thief,  we  shall  discover  in  it 
all  those  component  parts  of  a  sincere  and  scrip- 
tural repentance,  which,  under  ordinary  circum- 
stances, require  the  whole  heart  and  soul,  and 
mind,  and  strength,  and  which  are  scarcely  ever 
manifested,  when  this  great  work  is  left  to  be 
achieved  in  the  few  short,  dark,  and  delirious 
hours  of  mortal  sickness. 

II.  We  shall  attempt  to  show,  what  lessons  of 
comfort  may  legitimately  be  derived  from  it. 

I.  Observe  carefully  the  very  first  words 
which  are  recorded  of  the  dying  malefactor.  His 
companion  in  iniquity  and  in  suffering,  had 
been  reviling  Christ,  even  from  the  cross,  and 
had  united  with  the  Chief  Priests  and  Pharisees 


212  THE  PENITENT  THIEF. 

in  the  last  and  most  bitter  taunts,  by  which  they 
had  added  the  "  trial  of  cruel  mockings/'  to  the 
other  agonies  of  the  crucifixion,  "  He  saved 
others,  himself  he  cannot  save;'^  "  If  thou  be 
Christ,  save  thyself  and  us.^'  The  penitent 
thief,  "answering,  rebuked  him,  saying.  Dost 
not  thou  fear  God,  seeing  thou  art  in  the  same 
condemnation?  And  we  indeed  justly,  for  we 
receive  the  due  reward  of  our  deeds;  but  this 
man  hath  done  nothing  amiss. ^' 

Here  are  almost  as  many  evidences  of  the 
operation  of  the  Divine  grace  upon  the  heart  of 
the  speaker,  as  there  are  words  in  the  sentence. 

First,  the  knowledge  of  himself,  and  the  con- 
viction of  his  own  sinfulness,  "  We  suffer  justly." 
He  does  not  say,  "  You  suffer  justly,"  but  we; 
acknowledging  at  once  his  own  guilt,  his  own 
utter  worthlessness  and  depravity;  that  he  de- 
served, justly  deserved,  even  the  lingering  and 
horrible  death  which  he  was  then  enduring. — 
Under  whatever  circumstances,  a  true  repen- 
tance is  exhibited,  be  assured  that  this  will 
always  form  a  distinguished  characteristic,  the 
deep  conviction  of  our  own  sinfulness,  and  of  the 
unquestionable  justice  of  God,  as  manifested  in 
our  punishment.     Tried    by  these   tests,  how 


THE  PENITENT  THIEF.  213 

seldom  will  what  is  called  a  death-bed  repen- 
tance, satisfy  an  impartial  and  candid  inquirer. 

It  has  been  my  painful  duty,  as. a  minister,  to 
witness  many  such  scenes,  where,  after  a  life  of 
sin,  or  a  course  of  forgetfulness  of  God,  contempt 
of  his  Word,  indifference  to  all  his  offers  of 
mercy,  through  the  appointed  Mediator,  a  near 
view  of  eternity,  "  a  fearful  looking  for  of  judg- 
ment and  fiery  indignation,"  have  taken  pos- 
session of  the  mind,  and  deeply  affected  the 
heart.  But  what  has  been  the  consequence? 
There  has  been  indeed  a  most  distressing  devel- 
opement  of  the  weakness  of  our  nature,  when 
unsupported  by  Divine  grace,  a  most  sensitive 
shrinking  from  death,  and  all  that  is  to  happen 
after  death;  but  there  has  seldom  been  a  single 
trace  of  that  feeling  of  sinfulness  and  misery, 
that  acknowledgment  of  the  justice  of  God, 
that  filial  fear  of  God,  which  marked  the  peni- 
tence of  the  dying  malefactor.  So  far  from  it, 
that  in  cases  such  as  I  allude  to,  the  language  is 
is  more  frequently  of  a  nature  rather  reflecting 
upon  the  injustice,  than  acknowledging  the  jus- 
tice of  what  the  Almighty  has  ordained;  too 
often  the  dying  man  consoles  himself  with  the 
retrospect  of  what  he  has  not  done  amiss,  the 


214  THE  PENITENT  THIEF. 

reflection  that  he  has  not  gone  very  widely 
astray,  that  he  has  injured  no  one,  that  he  has 
been  no  man's  enemy,  that  he  shall  not  be  pun-' 
ished,  having  "  done  nothing  amiss;"  or  else  he 
satisfies  himself  with  a  sort  of  general  acknow- 
ledgment that  "  all  have  sinned  and  come  short 
of  the  glory  of  God,"  and  then  feels  some  degree 
of  complacency  that  he  does  not  except  himself. 

How  different,  how  widely  different,  were 
the  meekness,  the  contrition,  the  self-condemna- 
tion, the  heartfelt  bitterness  of  this  confession, 
"We  indeed  justly,  for  we  receive  the  due  re- 
ward of  our  deeds."  Though  the  nails  had 
pierced  his  hands  and  feet,  though  bleeding  at 
every  pore,  he  felt  it  all  too  little  for  his  deserv- 
ings.  Who  could  doubt  the  sincerity  of  such  a 
man's  repentance? 

But  there  is  far  more  even  than  this  in  the 
case  before  us;  this  indeed  marked  a  godly  sor- 
row, a  true  "repentance  towards  God,"  but 
there  was  that  also,  which  evidenced  a  genuine 
"faith  in  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ;"  a  faith  so 
remarkable,  originating  at  such  a  moment,  and 
exercised  in  such  a  manner,  that  we  may  safely 
challenge  the  whole  world  to  produce  its  parallel. 
The  dying  malefactor,  having  testified  his  sense 


THE  PENITENT  THIEF.  215 

of  his  own  unworthiness  and  guilt,  and  having 
declared,  that  the  fear  of  God  restrained  him 
from  adding  yet  another  sin  to  his  already  deep- 
ly-laden account;  having  reproved  the  obduracy 
and  profaneness  of  his  companion,  and  having 
publicly  acknowledged  his  conviction  of  the 
perfect  innocency  of  Him  whom  he  had  beheld, 
scourged  as  a  slave,  and  now  hanging  disgraced 
upon  the  cross  as  a  criminal,  "this  man  hath 
done  nothing  amiss,"  turns  to  that  apparently 
helpless  and  expiring  sufferer,  and  in  one  single 
sentence  acknowledges  his  kingly  power,- and 
his  unquestionable  divinity,  "Lord,  remember 
me  when  thou  comest  into  thy  kingdom."  Is 
it  possible,  under  all  the  circumstances,  to  con- 
ceive an  exercise  of  faith  more  satisfactory  or 
more  complete?  At  a  time  when  the  disciples 
had  forsaken  their  divine  Master,  and  fled  from 
the  dreadful  scene;  when  even  the  women, 
those  who  loved  him  best,  and  clung  to  him  the 
most  closely,  "stood  afar  off  beholding  these 
things;"  when,  upon  this  world's  surface,  there 
appeared  not  another  human  being,  to  exchange 
even  one  word  of  common  sympathy  with  the 
helpless  sufferer;  here  was  a  man  who  addressed 
him  in  the  language  of  humble,  faithful  prayer; 


216  THE  PENITENT  THIEF. 

acknowledging  him  as  his  king,  his  friend,  his 
God.  Not  a  trace  of  doubt  is  visible  in  that 
remarkable  petition,  "when  thou  comest."  He 
was  as  confident  of  the  Saviour's  reign,  and  of 
the  Saviour's  kingdom,  as  if,  with  Stephen,  he 
had  seen  the  heavens  opened,  and  Jesus  stand- 
ing at  the  right  hand  of  God. 

How  wonderful  must  have  been  the  influence 
of  the  Spirit  of  the  Most  High  upon  that  man's 
heart,  to  have  produced  such  a  prayer,  at  such 
a  moment!  so  much  faith,  so  much  importunity, 
so  much  humility.  He  does  not  ask  to  sit  on 
the  right  hand  of  Christ,  or  on  his  left,  as  James 
and  John  had  asked,  although  he  had  indeed 
done  what  they  at  that  time  had  never  done — 
he  had  drunk  of  the  same  cup  of  agony,  and 
been  baptized  with  the  same  baptism  of  suffer- 
ing, as  his  Saviour  and  Redeemer — but  all  he 
asks  is,  to  be  remembered ;  to  have  a  place  in 
his  Lord's  recollection,  a  portion  in  his  Redeem- 
er's heart.  He  seeks  no  diminution  of  those 
protracted  and  indescribable  agonies,  through 
which  he  was  passing,  and  it  is  worthy  of  ob- 
servation that  he  received  none;  his  miseries 
were  lengthened  out,  as  those  of  the  impenitent 
and  hardened  malefactor;   his  legs  also  were 


THE  PENITENT  THIEF.  217 

broken  by  the  Roman  soldiers;  he  died  the 
common  death,  with  pains  unmitigated  and  suf- 
ferings undiminished,  but  there  was  no  syllable 
of  repining,  no  murmur  of  discontent;  though 
he  lived  on  through  those  dark  hours  of  agony, 
his  voice  was  heard  no  more;  all  his  hopes  and 
his  desires  were  for  eternity;  "when  thou  comest 
into  thy  kingdom,  remember  me;"  that  will  be 
time  sufficient;  I  am  content  to  be  forgotten 
now,  if  I  may  but  be  remembered  then. 

Who  can  be  surprised  that  such  a  petition 
was  most  amply  granted:  "Verily  I  say  unto 
thee.  To-day  shalt  thou  be  with  me  in  Paradise." 

If,  brethren,  you  ever  are  inclined  to  strength- 
en yourselves  in  a  false  security,  or  in  worldly 
indifference,  by  the  example  before  us,  and  to 
think  that  faith  and  repentance  cannot  come  too 
late;  we  would  entreat  you,  honestly  and  care- 
fully to  examine  all  these  particulars  of  the  inci- 
dent, from  which  you  draw  encouragements  for 
your  delay,  and  we  firmly  believe  that  the  im- 
pression left  upon  your  minds  would  be,  that  if 
you  are  ever  to  attain  to  the  blessed  assurance 
vouchsafed  to  the  dying  malefactor,  you  cannot 
begin  too  soon:  that  there  is  a  holy  hatred  of 
sin  to  be  attained;  a  recognition  of  the  Divine 
19 


218  THE  PENITENT  THIEF. 

justice;  a  simple,  confiding  trust  in  the  Redeem- 
er; an  earnest  desire,  as  the  fruits  of  this  faith, 
to  benefit  our  fellow-creatures;  a  calm  and 
peaceful  looking  to  eternity;  and  an  indifference 
not  only  to  the  honors,  and  pleasures,  and  ad- 
vantages, but  to  the  ills,  the  miseries,  and  the 
sufferings  of  this  world ;  each  and  all  of  which, 
were  most  eminently  manifested  by  the  dying 
thief,  and  to  attain  which,  you  will  find,  that 
the  fullest  powers  of  the  mind,  the  warmest 
affections  of  the  heart,  and  the  earliest  and  most 
anxious  solicitude,  will  not  be  too  powerful,  too 
ardent,  too  early,  for  the  great  work  to  be 
achieved. 

Perhaps,  from  the  view  which  we  have  taken 
of  this  deeply  instructive  narrative,  some  may 
be  led  to  inquire — are  there,  then  no  encourage- 
ments to  be  drawn,  no  consolations  to  be  derived 
by  the  sinner,  even  at  the  eleventh  hour,  from  so 
glorious  a  display  of  his  Redeemer's  power  and 
mercy  as  this  affords  him?  We  will  not 
reply,  that  there  are  none;  but,  we  candidly 
confess,  that,  as  faithful  interpreters  of  Divine 
truth,  we  cannot  venture  to  assert,  that  there  are 
many.  When  all  the  circumstances  which  were 
combined,  are  taken  into  consideration,  although 


THE  PENITENT  THIEF.  219 

we  will  not  say,  as  one  of  the  older  writers  of 
our  Church  upon  this  subject  has  beautifully- 
said,  "  Christ  must  die  again,  and  thou  must  be 
crucified  with  him,  before  such  a  day  as  that 
shall  come  again;  for,  although  on  the  days  of 
coronations,  and  great  espousals,  the  streets  be 
hung  with  tapestry,  and  the  prisoners  be  let 
loose,  and  the  conduits  run  with  wine,  yet  if  a 
man  be  cast  into  prison,  at  any  other  time,  he 
will  be  left  to  be  executed,  and  if  a  man  go  to 
the  conduits  at  any  other  time,  he  will  find  only 
water."  Although  we  will  not  presume  thus  to 
limit  the  infinite  grace  of  our  Redeemer  to  that 
tremendous  day,  and  to  that  solemn  hour;  we 
would  most  earnestly  entreat  you  not  to  trust  to 
such  another  day,  and  such  another  instance. 
We  grant  that  a  true  repentance  cannot  come  too 
late,  but  who  is  to  ascertain  that  a  late  repen- 
tance is  a  true,  and  therefore  an  acceptable  re- 
pentance? Who  is  even  to  insure  to  you  the 
opportunity  of  this  late  repentance?  Doubtless 
the  bed  of  sickness  has  often  been  made  the 
blessed  scene  of  a  total  change  of  heart  and 
aflfections,  and  some  most  eminent  instances 
might  be  given  of  repentance  vouchsafed,  of 
grace  offered  and  accepted,  of  pardon  most  mer- 


220  THE  PENITENT  THIEF. 

cifully  bestowed  within  the  walls  of  the  cham- 
ber, from  which  the  sinner  is  to  go  no  more  out 
again,  into  the  follies  and  the  allurements  of  the 
world;  but  we  ask,  Who  will  insure  to  you  the 
certainty  even  of  a  bed  of  sickness,  much  less  the 
certainty  that  Divine  grace,  so  frequently  neglect- 
ed in  health,  shall  be  at  that  season  forced  upon 
your  acceptance?  Are  there  no  sudden  deaths? 
Are  there  no  instances  of  a  few  hours',  or  a  few 
days'  illness,  during  the  whole  of  which  the 
sufferer  is  absolutely  incapacitated  from  every 
degree  of  mental  exertion,  by  bodily  languor  or 
by  bodily  pain?  And  will  you  run  the  hazard 
of  an  eternity  of  happiness,  against  such  a  pro- 
bability as  this?  Could  any  thing  short  of  men- 
tal aberration,  induce  you  deUberately  to  make 
such  a  choice?  Imagine  even  the  very  best 
alternative  that  can  await  you,  and  how  little 
comfort  does  the  prospect  hold  forth.  Perhaps, 
after  living  a  life  of  sinful  forgetfulness  of  God, 
you  may  be  brought  during  the  few  painful  and 
melancholy  hours,  which  mark  the  close  of  such 
a  life,  to  a  knowledge  of  the  Redeemer,  to  a 
deep  conviction  of  sin,  and  to  some  degree  of 
love  to  God,  and  of  meetness  for  the  inheritance 
of  the  saints  in  light.     How  difficult,  in  such  a 


THE  PENITENT  THIEF.  221 

case,  to  ascertain  what  is  really  the  effect  of 
Divine  grace,  and  what  the  specious  counterfeit 
produced  by  the  dread  of  death,  the  terrors  of 
approaching  judgment.  As  the  ministers  of 
Christ,  we  may  leave  you  in  hope  of  the  never- 
failing  mercies  of  an  infinitely  merciful  Redeem- 
er; but  seldom  indeed  can  we,  in  instances  such 
as  these,  assure  your  own  minds;  seldom  can  we 
comfort  your  weeping  friends  by  any  thing  be- 
yond a  hope,  a  faint  and  doubtful  hope,  which 
the  heart  indeed,  in  every  case,  loves  to  cherish, 
even  while  the  mind  and  judgment  stand  trem- 
blingly aloof,  and  refuse  all  share  in  the  decision. 
While  even  the  language  of  hope  itself,  loses 
much  of  its  hilarity  and  joy,  from  the  recollec- 
tion, How  many  similar  instances  we  have  wit- 
nessed, in  which  returning  health  has  brought 
back  returning  worldliness  and  sin;  while  every 
trace  of  faith  and  penitence,  which  we  had  so 
highly  valued  on  the  bed  of  sickness,  and  from 
which,  if  the  sinner  had  died,  we  should  have 
ventured  to  deduce  our  hope  of  his  salvation, 
has  utterly  and  for  ever  disappeared. 

Do  you  then  ask,  brethren,  what  comfort  you 
may  derive  from  the  narrative  we  have  been 
considering?     One  important  lesson  to  be  de- 


222  THE  PENITENT  THIEF. 

rived  from  it,  is  this — That  if  our  gracious 
Redeemer  could  thus  readily,  pardon  the  dying 
malefactor,  who  had  never,  probably,  until 
those  hours  of  agony,  heard  of  the  name  of 
Christ,  and  who  at  such  an  hour  might  be  glad 
to  cling  to  any  hope,  much  more  will  He  accept 
and  pardon  you,  whatever  be  your  sins,  how- 
ever great,  or  however  habitual  and  confirmed, 
if  you  now  come  in  the  days  of  health  and  hap- 
piness, with  the  same  penitence,  and  the  same 
faith,  offering,  from  a  broken  and  contrite  heart 
the  same  petition,  "  Lord,  remember  me." 

This  is  a  lesson  which  the  incident  we  have 
been  considering,  well  may  teach  us;  this  is  the 
consolation  which  it  may  really  impart;  but  if 
you  will  only  look  to  it  for  future  succor,  for  par- 
don at  the  eleventh  hour,  for  acceptance  when 
the  few  remaining  sands  of  life  are  quickly  ebb- 
ing from  the  glass,  be  assured  that  you  are  lean- 
ing upon  a  broken  reed:  and  that,  if  you  per- 
sist in  tlie  delusion,  the  sin,  the  misery,  the  dis- 
appointment must  be  your  own. 

The  present  moment,  then,  is  the  only  time  at 
which  we  can  insure  to  you  the  fulfilment  of 
the  petition  in  the  text.  Make  it  your  ear- 
nest, faithful,  lieartfelt  petition  now,  and  it  will 


THE  PENITENT  THIEF.  223 

not,  cannot  be  denied  you.  Say,  Lord,  behold 
my  sinfulness,  behold  the  hardness  of  my  heart, 
the  coldness  of  my  affections,  the  waywardness 
of  my  will;  behold  all  my  poverty,  all  my  neces- 
sity; see  my  utter  inability  to  help  myself,  and 
*•  remember  me."  "  There  is  forgiveness  with 
thee,  that  thou  mightest  be  feared;"  0  bestow  it 
upon  me.  There  is  grace  with  thee,  that  thou 
mightest  be  loved;  0  deny  it  not  to  me.  There  is 
pleasure  at  thy  right  hand  for  ever;  0  give  me 
my  portion  there,  and. I  will  ask  no  more;  only, 
"  Lord  remember  me,"  now  thou  art  in  thy 
kingdom.  The  answer  to  such  a  prayer  will 
be,  for  these  are  the  words  of  Him  to  whom  you 
pray,  "  Can  a  woman  forget  her  sucking  child, 
that  she  should  not  have  compassion  on  the  son 
of  her  womb?  Yea,  they  may  forget,  yet  will 
I  not  forget  thee."  I  have  gone  to  prepare  a 
place  for  thee,  that  where  I  am,  there  may  also 
my  servants  be;  Satan  hath  desired  to  have 
thee,  that  he  may  sift  thee  as  wheat;  but  I  have 
prayed  for  thee,  that  thy  faith  fail  not.  For  all 
that  the  Father  giveth  me  shall  come  tome:  and 
him  that  cometh  unto  me,  I  will  in  no  wise  cast 
out.  Cleave  to  me  with  all  thy  heart,  and  with 
all  thy  soul  and  with  all  thy  strength;  and  when 


224  THE  PENITENT  THIEF. 

thy  heart  and  thy  flesh  fail  thee,  I  will  be  the 
strength  of  thine  heart,  and  thy  portion  for  ever. 
Such,  in  effect,  is  the  gracious  answer  which  our 
Lord  has  vouchsafed  to  thousands  of  his  praying 
people,  and  such  will  he  this  day  vouchsafe  to 
you,  if  you,  from  a  contrite  and  believing  heart, 
present  the  petition  of  the  text. 

That  you  may  be  enabled  by  Divine  grace,  so 
to  do,  may  God  of  his  infinite  mercy  grant, 
through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 


225 


SERMOxN  XIII. 

SIGNS  THAT  WE  ARE   "IN  CHRIST 
JESUS." 


1  St.  John  ii,  5.     (Part.) 


To  be,  what  in  Scripture  phraseology  is  termed 
"  in  Christ  Jesus,"  i.  e.  to  be  a  partaker,  by  faith, 
of  that  union  with  the  Saviour,  which  the  Word 
of  God  continually  presents,  and  for  which  the 
Church  of  England  continually  prays,  is  the  one 
great  and  leading  anxiety  of  every  truly  enlight- 
ened mind.  The  reason  for  this  anxiety  is  ob- 
vious, it  is  in  Him  alone  that  we  can  possess 
that  righteousness  which  will  satisfy  God,  for 
the  Apostle  says,  "  He  hath  made  him  to  be  sin 
for  us,  who  knew  no  sin;  that  we  might  be  made 
the  righteousness  of  God,  in  Him."  2  Ep.  Cor. 
V,  21.  It  is  in  Him  alone  that  we  can  stand  the 
scrutinising  eye  of  our  Judge,  and  be  secured 


226  SIGNS  THAT  WE  ARE 

against  the  vengeance  of  a  broken  law;  for,  the 
Word  of  God  says  again,  "  There  is,  therefore, 
now  no  condemnation  to  them  which  are  in ' 
Christ  Jesus."  Rom.  viii,  1.  It  is  in  Him  alone 
that  we  can  be  preserved  from  the  devices  of 
our  spiritual  adversaries,  the  iniquity  of  our  own 
hearts,  and  the  fiery  darts  of  the  wicked  one, 
for  the  same  inspired  Word  has  said,  "  The  name 
of  the  Lord  is  a  strong  tower,  the  righteous 
runneth  into  it  and  is  safe."  Prov.  xviii,  10. 

This  being,  then,  to  the  spiritual  reader  of 
Holy  Writ,  an  unquestionable  truth,  a  truth 
most  merciful  and  most  consolatory,  a  truth 
which  the  renewed  mind  receives  without  hesi- 
tation, and  without  distrust,  it  is  not  my  inten- 
tion to  endeavor  to  demonstrate  it  upon  the 
present  occasion,  but  to  apply  myself  more 
immediately  to  the  direct  purport  of  the  text — 
"  Hereby  know  we  that  we  are  in  Him."  The 
consideration,  therefore,  not  of  the  great,  and 
unspeakable,  and  inestimable  benefits  of  being 
in  Christ,  but  of  the  method  whereby  we  may 
ascertain  that  we  are  ourselves,'  individually, 
partakers  of  it,  is  what  I  desire  especially  to 
bring  before  you. 

May  the  Holy  vSpirit  of  God  accompany  these 


IN  CHRIST  JESUS.  227 

reflections  to  every  soul  among  us,  with  his 
especial  blessing;  to  you  who  are  really  *<iri 
Christ  Jesus,"  and  know  it  not,  and  therefore 
enjoy  but  a  very  small  portion  of  that  peace, 
and  happiness,  and  abiding  consolation,  which 
ought  to  be  your  own,  by  making  you  sensible 
that  you  are  even  now  partakers  of  this  indes- 
cribable mercy,  which  shall,  by  God's  grace, 
issue  in  your  infinite  and  eternal  felicity;  and  on 
the  other  hand,  to  you  who  are  not  in  Christ 
Jesus,  that  you  may  learn  the  important  truth, 
that  there  is  far,  far  more  in  religion,  than  you 
have  ever  yet  experienced,  and  that,  while  you 
are  contenting  yourselves  with  the  mere  out- 
ward form  and  ceremonial  observance,  with  the 
mere  shell  of  the  imperishable  fruit  of  Paradise, 
there  is  that  within  which  you  have  never  tasted, 
a  reality  and  a  sweetness,  a  consolation  and  a 
joy,  which  you  have  never  found,  of  which  you 
have  at  present  no  experience,  and  in  your  pre- 
sent state  can  form  no  conception. 

The  method  in  which  we  propose  to  investi- 
gate this  subject  is,  by  bringing  forward  certain 
evidences,  with  which  the  word  of  God  has  fur- 
nished us,  upon  this  peculiarly  difficult,  and  yet 
important  question;  hoping,  thus,  that  we  may 


228  SIGNS  THAT  WE  ARE 

be  enabled  to  expose  the  false  professor  to  his 
own  heart,  while  we  trust  we  may  be  permit- 
ted at  the  same  time,  to  establish  and  comfort 
the  true. 

I.  There  is  a  very  common  mistake,  which 
greatly  increases  the  difficulty  of  the  subject 
before  us,  viz.,  that  the  visible  Church  of  Christ, 
and  the  invisible  Church,  are  one  and  the  same 
thing.  The  truth  is,  that  although  the  visible 
Church  includes  the  invisible,  they  are  by  no 
means  synonymous,  since,  while  many  are  "  in 
Christ,"  by  an  outward  profession  many  of  these 
same  persons  are  not  in  Christ  by  a  true,  and 
living,  and  obeying  faith;  are  not,  therefore, 
partakers  of  that  spiritual  union  which  binds  the 
real  believer  to  the  Saviour,  as  the  living  branch 
to  the  living  vine,  to  which  our  Lord  so  beauti- 
fully compared  himself.  St.  John  xv,  5.  Indeed, 
were  it  otherwise,  the  words  of  the  text — and 
there  are  many  of  a  similar  tendency — could 
never  occur,  since  the  very  fact,  that  all  to  whom 
St.  John  wrote,  were  baptised  and  professing 
Christians,  'would  establish,  beyond  question, 
that  they  were  all  "  in  Christ,"  as  spiritual 
Christians,  and  therefore  would  render  every 
evidence  of  such  a  fact,  useless  and  unnecessary. 


IN  CHRIST  JESUS.  229 

So  far  from  this  being  the  case,  the  Epistle 
before  us  is  full  of  these  evidences.  For  instance, 
"  We  know  that  we  have  passed  from  death 
unto  life,"  not  because  we  have  been  partakers 
of  the  Sacrament  of  Baptism,  but,  "  because  we 
love  the  brethren."  Again,  "  Hereby  know  we 
that  we  are  in  Him,  because  he  hath  given  us  of 
his  Spirit." 

Taking,  then,  these  declarations  of  the  Word 
of  God  for  our  guide,  we  would  commence,  by 
asking  each  individual  among  you.  Whereby 
know  you  that  you  are  "in  Christ?"  What 
reason  have  you  for  thinking  so?  Are  you 
satisfied  of  the  fact,  because  you  have  been  made 
a  partaker  of  the  Holy  Sacrament  of  Christian 
Baptism?  or  because  you  have  joined  a  Chris- 
tian congregation,  or  been  partaker,  with  them, 
of  Christian  ordinances?  Alas!  a  moment's  re- 
flection will  convince  you  that  this  is  insufficient;- 
have  we  not  reason  to  fear,  that  some  of  the 
most  deeply  ruined,  of  those  who  have  perished 
everlastingly,  have  done  the  same?  Let  us, 
then,  advance  a  little  further  into  the  inquiry. — 
Do  you  imagine  that  you  have  been  in  Christ 
from  your  earliest  infancy;  or,  have  you  any 
20 


230  SIGNS  THAT  WE  ARE 

just  ground  for  hoping  that  you  have  become  so, 
within  your  own  recollection? 

We  do  not  say,  that  there  are  none  who  can 
reasonably  believe  that  they  have  been  "  in 
Christ,"  using  the  phrase,  as  the  Apostle  uses  it 
in  the  text,  in  its  highest  spiritual  meaning,  even 
from  the  hour  of  their  baptism,  because  we 
firmly  believe  that  there  are  such  instances,  in 
which  the  grace  bestowed  at  the  baptismal  font, 
has  remained,  shedding  its  blessed  influence 
throughout  the  years  of  the  future  man.  But 
these,  we  fear,  form  the  rare  exception,  not  the 
general  rule;  and,  therefore,  we  rather  address 
ourselves  in  this  discourse  to  the  great  mass  of 
Christian  hearers,  than  to  the  few  who  have 
been  thus  highly  favored;  and  we  would  ask 
you,  who  are  not  conscious  of  this  early  renewal 
unto  holiness,  and  the  consequent  sanclification 
which  attend  it,  whereby,  know  ye  that  ye  are 
in  Christ?  Or,  which  is  the  same  thing,  that 
you  possess  a  true,  a  living,  a  saving  faith  in 
Him?  The  first  sign,  which  we  would  propose 
to  you,  to  assist  you  in  answering  the  inquiry, 
is  this — 

I.  The  manner  in  which  you  became  possess- 
ed of  this  faith. 


IN  CHRIST  JESUS.  231 

II.  The    preparation  of   heart   which  went 
before,  or  accompanied  it;  and 

III.  Some  of  the  features  of  this  faith. 

I.  We  would  inquire,  was  your  faith  wrought 
in  you,  or  confirmed  in   you,  by  reading  the 
Word  of  God,  or  by  hearing  it  faithfully  prea- 
ched.^     Did  this   convince,  and    humble,  and 
incline  you  to  seek  Christ  as  a  Saviour?  or,  if  it 
was  not  the  primary  instrument,  employed  by 
God  in  this  great  work,  has  the  revealed  Word 
tended  to  confirm  and  establish  your  faith?    We 
mention   this,  first,  because    it  is   God's  usual 
method  of  bringing  his  people  within  the  blessed 
relationship,  of  which  we  are  speaking.     Afflic- 
tions, trials,  sorrows,  are  all  made  subservient 
by  God,  to  the  preparation,  and   promotion  of 
this  faith;  but  his  Word  emphatically  says,  "So 
then  faith  cometh  by  hearing,  and  hearing  by 
the  Word  of  God;''   Rom.  x,  17;   and  again, 
"Of  his  own  will  begat  he  us,  with  the  word  of 
TRUTH.'^  St.  James  i,  18.    So,  faith  was  wrought 
in  the  three  thousand  converts,  on  the  day  of 
Pentecost,  by  the   preaching  of   Peter;  so   St. 
Paul's  faith   was  confirmed  by  the  preaching 
of  Ananias;  so,  Lydia's  by  the  instructions  of 
St.  Paul;  so,  the  Eunuch's  was  wrought  in  him 


232  SIGNS  THAT  WE  ARE 

by  the  teaching  of  Philip ;  and  the  same  of  many- 
others.  Now,  if  you  think  that  you  are  "in 
Christ,'^  i.  e.,  that  you  possess  this  saving,  jus- 
tifying faith,  and  yet  have  no  recollection  how, 
or  when,  or  where  you  obtained  it,  we  have 
almost  as  much  reason  to  suspect  its  genuine- 
ness as  we  have,  when  a  person  possesses 
goods  of  which  he  can  give  no  probable  account, 
to  suspect  that  they  do  not  rightly  belong  to 
him.  While,  therefore,  we  most  certainly  would 
not  say,  that  you  must  necessarily  remember 
the  day  and  the  hour  when,  or  the  preacher 
by  whom,  this  great  work  was  wrought  in 
you,  you  must,  if  it  be  a  genuine  work,  know 
something,  either  of  its  origin,  or  its  confirma- 
tion. There  must  be  a  distinctive  feeling  in 
your  mind,  that  whereas  you  were  blind,  now 
you  see;  that  old  things  have  passed  away,  that 
all  things  have  become  new;  that  you  are  now 
enabled  to  discover  something  of  your  own  heart, 
with  which  you  were  not  always  acquainted;  to 
know  something  of  the  heinousness  of  sin,  of 
which  you  were  formerly  ignorant;  and  to  feel 
something  of  that  Scriptural  love  to  God,  as  re- 
vealed in  the  person  of  his  Son,  something  of 
the    unspeakable    preciousness    of  a   Saviour, 


IN  CHRIST  JESUS.  233 

which  you  could  not  always  appreciate;  and 
that  the  Word  of  God,  either  read,  and  meditated 
upon  with  prayer  in  private,  or  heard  and  atten- 
ded to,  Acts  xvi.  16,  in  the  public  ministrations, 
was  the  instrument  blessed  to  this  great  end. — 
This,  then,  is  the  first  sign  upon  which,  with  a 
confidence  proportioned  to  its  clearness  and  cer- 
tainty, you  may  lay  your  hand,  and  say, "  Here- 
by, I  know  that  I  am  in  him." 

Most  earnestly  would  we  beseech  you  to  con- 
sider, after  you  leave  this  house,  the  sign  of 
which  we  are  now  speaking.  If  you  have  never 
read  the  Word  of  God  with  serious  and  devout 
attention,  and  fervent  prayer,  to  find  what  is  the 
mind  of  the  Spirit;  if  you  have  never  dwelt 
frequently  upon  those  truths,  which  you  have 
heard  in  the  house  of  God,  is  it  not  evident  that 
you  cannot  really,  savingly  be  "  in  Christ?" 
You  have  obviously  cut  yourself  off,  from  the 
only  two  means,  which  God  has  vouchsafed  for 
communicating  to  man,  His  will.  You  cannot 
suppose,  for  a  moment,  that  God  has  vouchsafed 
you  a  distinct  and  separate  revelation,  and  there- 
fore there  is  no  alternative;  it  is  undeniable  that 
you  have  no  share,  at  present,  in  that  mercy  of 
which  you  have,  perhaps,  been  fully  persuaded, 
20* 


234  SIGNS  THAT  WE  ARE 

that  you  were  in  complete  and  undisturbed  pos- 
session. 

II.  The  second  sign  to  which  we  shall  advert  - 
as  an  evidence,  by  which  you  may  know  whe- 
ther you  are  "  in  Christ,"  or,  whether  Christ  be 
truly  yours — for  in  Scripture,  the  phrases  are 
synonymous — is,  if  your  heart  were  ever  pre- 
pared for  receiving  Him,  as  the  stones  were  pre- 
pared for  Solomon's  Temple,  or  as  a  palace  is 
prepared  for  the  residence  of  a  king.     It  was 
prophesied  of  our   Lord,  that   at  his  coming, 
"Every  valley  should  be  exalted,  and  every 
mountain  and  hill  should  be  made  low;"  Isaiah 
xl,  4;  metaphorical  language  indeed,  expressive 
of  the  manner  in  which  the  roads,  over  which 
the  ancient  monarchs  were  about  to  travel,  used 
in  those  days  to  be  prepared  for  their  passage. 
But,   however  metaphorical,  no  doubt  strictly 
applicable,  not  only  to  the  coming  of  Christ  in 
the  flesh,  but  to  his  coming  by  faith  into  the 
heart  of  every  believer.     The  way  must  be  pre- 
pared for  him,  by  that  blessed  Spirit,  from  whom 
alone,  as  the  Word  of  God  assures  us  the  pre- 
parations of  the  heart,"  Prov.  xvi,  1,  proceed. 
Every  mountain  must  still  be  laid  low  at  the 
Saviour's  approach;  every  high  thing,  and  every 


IN  CHRIST  JESUS.  235 

haughty  thought,  which  exalteth  itself  against 
the  knowledge  of  God,  must  be  cast  down. 

For  instance,  you  once,  perhaps,  esteemed 
yourself  sufficiently  holy,  sufficiently  righteous, 
from  the  honesty  of  your  intentions,  and  the  in- 
tegrity of  your  life;  perhaps,  like  the  Pharisee, 
you  thanked  God  that  you  were  not  as  other 
men  are;  these  swellings  of  self-righteousness, 
then,  are  the  mountains  which  must  be  laid  low, 
so  low  that  they  must  be  completely  levelled,  that 
not  a  single  thought  of  your  own  worth,  or 
merits,  or  righteousness,  may  raise  its  head 
against  the  entrance  of  your  Lord;  so  low,  that 
instead  of  saying,  or  even  thinking,  that  you 
"  are  rich  and  increased  with  goods,"  you  must 
feel  in  your  inmost  soul,  that  you  are  "  wretch- 
ed, and  miserable,  and  poor,  and  blind,  and  na- 
ked;" Rev.  iii,  17;  ready  to  say  with  Jacob,  "I 
am  not  worthy  of  the  least  of  all  the  mercies, 
which  thou  hast  showed  unto  thy  servant;" 
Gen.  xxxii,  10;  with  David, "  I  am  a  worm,  and 
no  man;"  Psalm  xxii,  6;  with  the  Prodigal,  "  I 
am  no  more  worthy  to  be  called  thy  son;"  St. 
Luke  XV,  1 9 ;  with  St.  Paul,  "  of  sinners  I  am 
chief;"  1  Ep.  Tim.  i,  15.  Has  this,  then,  been 
in  any  degree  the  case  withjyourselves?  Are  you 


236  SIGNS  THAT  WE  ARE 

conscious  of  any  such  "  preparations  of  heart" 
as  we  are  describing?  or,  while  imagining  that 
you  are  "  in  Christ,"  are  you  still  of  a  high  look, 
and  of  a  haughty  carriage  before  God;  still  satis- 
fied with  your  own  righteousness,  of  which  you 
have  never  yet  seen  the  emptiness  and  insuffi- 
ciency, never  yet  trampled  it  into  the  dust,  be- 
neath the  cross  of  your  Redeemer?  And  do 
you  imagine  that  Christ  has  passed  over  these 
mountains  and  taken  possession  of  your  heart? 
Be  not  deceived,  it  cannot  be;  wherever  he 
comes,  he  levels  all  before  him;  remember  his 
own  words,  "  Except  ye  be  converted,  and  be- 
come as  little  children," — pride  and  self-right- 
eousness are  no  infant  sins — "  ye  shall  not  enter 
into  the  kingdom  of  heaven."  St.  Matt  xviii,  3. 
Again,  while  every  mountain  must  be  brought 
down,  every  valley  must  be  exalted,  all  low  and 
despairing  thoughts,  so  dishonorable  to  God, 
must  be  eradicated,  that  these  low  places,  to 
carry  on  the  metaphor,  may  be  filled  up  with  the 
"  unsearchable  riches  of  Christ." 

These  "  preparations  of  heart"  do  not  usually 
stand  alone,  they  are  often  strongly  mingled  with 
grievous  and  trying  visitations  of  spiritual  sor- 
row, and  the  fears  of  eternal  condemnation,  the 


IN.  CHRIST  JESUS.  237 

dread  of  not  being  accepted,  with  which  God 
frequently  penetrates  the  heart  before  he  bestows 
Christ  upon  us,  as  the  plough  is  driven  through 
the  hardened  land,  before  the  corn  is  sown.  For 
be  assured  that  a  broken  and  a  bleeding  Saviour 
will  enter  only  into  a  broken  and  a  bleeding 
heart;  broken  for  its  sins  and  from  its  siijs;  bleed- 
ing with  pain  and  anguish,  at  its  long  hostility 
and  alienation  from  God. 

The  evidence  of  which  we  are  now  speaking, 
is  a  very  important  one,  and  one  which  we  can- 
not but  fear,  is  much  neglected  at  the  present 
day.  There  is  no  doubt,  that  a  certain  class  of 
religionists  were  in  the  habit  of  dwelling  too 
exclusively  and  too  systematically  upon  it;  and 
this  is  probably  the  reason,  that  the  natural  re- 
action in  the  human  mind  has  taken  place,  and 
that  it  is  now  so  much  overlooked  and  under- 
valued. 

And  what  is  the  consequence? — that  the  work 
of  grace  in  too  many  instances,  is  no  longer  the 
deep,  heart-searching  work  of  the  Spirit  of  God, 
which  it  used  to  be,  in  the  best  days  of  the 
Church  of  Christ,  and  which  it  must  be,  in  every 
case  that  shall  survive,  but  a  slight,  superficial, 
notional  thing,  if  not  wholly  seated  in  the  ima- 


238  SIGNS  THAT  WE  ARE 

gination  and  the  head,  floating  only  on  the  sur- 
face of  the  affections,  and  not  going  down  into 
the  recesses  of  a  prepared  and  softened,  and 
therefore  "an  honest  and  good  heart."  It  is 
thus,  that  there  never  was  a  time  when  persons 
professing  religion,  were  so  carried  about  by 
every  wind  of  doctrine,  so  unsettled  in  their 
creed,  and  so  unstable,  consequently,  in  their 
practice,  as  at  the  present  moment.  Never, 
therefore,  was  there  a  time  when  it  was  more 
essential  to  look  well  to  the  ground-work  of  re- 
ligion in  the  mind;  to  examine  its  foundation  in 
the  heart;  to  see  whether,  in  our  own  case,  there 
has  been  this  preparing  work,  of  which  we  are 
speaking,  or  whether,  like  too  many  around  us, 
we  have  shot  up  at  once,  with  an  unnatural  pre- 
cocity, into  the  heights  of  its  privileges,  or  the 
depths  of  its  mysteries,  or  the  mazes  of  its  specu- 
lations, embracing  its  consolations  and  its  joys, 
but  knowing  little,  very  little,  of  those  prepara- 
tory feelings  of  deep  compunction  and  godly 
sorrowing  for  sin,  of  self-loathing,  and  self- 
abasement,  and  self-distrust,  of  which,  to  a 
greater  or  less  degree,  every  true  disciple  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  must  be  partaker.  Of  this, 
then — not  indeed  when  standing  alone,  for  there 


IN  CHRIST  JESUS.  239 

may  be  all  these  convictions  of  sin,  without  a 
true  and  scriptural  conversion — but  of  this,  if  it 
be  found  in  us  in  conjunction  with  the  other 
signs  of  which  we  are  now  speaking,  we  may 
safely  predicate,  in  the  language  of  the  text, 
"Hereby  we  know  that  we  are  in  Him." 

HI.  Proceed  we  to  the  consideration  of  the 
third  sign,  which  we.  have  mentioned,  as  ena- 
bling us  to  adopt  the  declaration  of  the  text, 
viz.. 

From  some  of  the  pecuHar  characteristics  of 
our  faith.  True  faith,  generally  speaking,  has 
a  time  of  infancy  as  well  as  maturity.  It  is  not 
born  a  perfect  man.  In  the  natural  world,  such 
a  sight  would  be  as  monstrous  as  unnatural; — 
in  the  spiritual  world  it  would  be  little  less. 

The  fabled  goddess  of  the  heathens  sprung 
into  life  perfect  in  every  point,  and  even  armed 
from  head  to  foot,  but  this  is  not  the  case  with 
the  faith  of  the  Christian.  Be  careful,  then,  of 
an  error,  not  very  uncommon  at  the  present  day, 
that  the  only  true  and  desirable  faith  is  that 
which  is  perfect  and  complete  at  once,  attaining 
to  as  full  an  assurance,  the  moment  it  is  born,  as 
after  years  of  Christian  practice  and  Christian 
experience.     That  such  a  faith,  so  full  and  com- 


240  SIGNS  THAT  WE  ARE 

plete,  in  its  maturest  fruit,  may  occasionally  be 
vouchsafed,  we  will  not  dispute;  but  that  it  is 
not  the  usual  method  in  which  it  is  described  in 
Scripture,  we  are  equally  certain.  It  is  there 
likened  to  the  grain  of  mustard  seed,  which  our 
Lord  tells  us  is  among  the  smallest  of  all  seeds, 
so  that  you  can  scarcely  discern  it,  and  that 
thus  it  is  with  faith,  the  believer  being  scarcely 
able,  at  first,  to  ascertain  whether  he  possesses 
it.  That,  as  the  minute  seed  becomes,  in  time, 
the  strong  and  flourishing  plant,  so  the  feeble 
faith  becomes,  in  due  time,  under  the  fertilizing 
effects  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  the  strong,  and  stable, 
and  durable  tree.  Like  the  new-born  infant, 
which  can  neither  speak  nor  stand  alone,  but  is 
carried  in  the  arms  of  others,  and  lives  upon 
nothing  but  the  simplest  aliment,  feeding  and 
crying  occupying  the  first  and  earliest  hours  of 
life;  such  is,  generally  speaking,  the  true  and 
genuine  faith  of  the  infant  believer;  an  alternate 
state  of  hungering  for  the  Word  of  God,  and  of 
sorrowing  for  sin;  unable  to  stand  alone,  looking 
for  the  aid  of  stronger  Christians,  to  bear  it  up, 
glad  of  every  little  help  to  carry  it  forward  on 
its  infant  course.  It  is  often,  also,  a  weeping 
faith,  full  of  doubtings,  temptations,  and  fears, 


IN  CHRIST  JESUS.  241 

as  the  poor  man  in  the  Gospel  cried,  "  Lord,  I 
heUeve;  help  thou  mine  unbeUef."  St.  Mark  ix, 
24.  This  is,  in  fact,  the  manner  in  which  our 
Lord  perpetually  speaks  of  it.  He  does  not 
compare  it  to  the  "  burning  flax,"  but  to  the 
"  smoking  flax,"  smoking  with  the  desire  after 
God,  but  the  fire  not  strong  enough  to  flame 
with  comforts.  He  does  not  compare  it  even 
to  the  reed  in  its  natural  state,  which,  at  the 
very  best,  is  so  weak  a  thing  that  a  bird  can 
scarcely  settle  upon  it,  but  to  the  "  bruised  reed," 
the  very  feeblest  thing  we  can  imagine.  But 
while  this  is  the  infancy  of  faith,  if  it  be  a  true 
faith,  every  day,  and  every  hour,  is  giving  it 
strength,  and  bringing  it  forward  into  manhood; 
it  does  not  he  in  the  heart  like  a  stone,  unchan- 
ged and  unchangeable,  but  like  a  prolific  seed 
in  the  fertile  earth,  realising  what  St.  Paul  ex- 
presses, when  he  says,  "The  righteousness  of 
God  is  revealed  from  faith  to  faith."  Rom  i,  17. 
from  one  degree  of  faith  to  another,  and  well 
exemplified  in  the  spiritual  life  of  Nicodemus, 
whose  faith  was  at  first  so  small,  and  timid,  and 
shrinking,  that  he  dared  not  visit  Christ,  until 
the  darkness  of  night  could  shroud  him  from  the 
eye  of  the  scoffer  j  and  yet  we  find,  that  this 
21 


242  SIGNS  THAT  WE  ARE 

same  trembling  disciple,  could,  but  a  short  time 
afterwards,  go  openly  to  the  Roman  Governor, 
with  Joseph  of  Arimathea,  in  the  hour  of  our 
Lord's  greatest  humiliation,  and  of  his  disciple's 
greatest  danger,  and  boldly  beg  the  body  of  his 
Saviour.  What  a  remarkable  proof  that  his 
faith  had  not  been  stationary!  Does,  then,  your 
own  experience,  testify  to  any  thing  resembling 
this,  in  your  Christian  life?  Do  you  remember 
the  time  when  your  faith  was  so  weak,  that 
you  dreaded  to  be  thought  more  in  earnest,  or 
more  anxious  for  the  salvation  of  your  soul, 
than  those  around  you;  and  are  you  now, 
through  grace,  comparatively  indifferent  to  hu- 
man opinion,  and  ready,  cost  what  it  may,  to 
confess  Christ  before  men?  Be  thankful  to  Him 
from  whom  this  increase  comes;  it  is  the  Lord's 
own  work;  to  him  be  all  the  glory! 

However  possible,  then,  it  is  for  faith  to  grow 
with  such  rapidity,  that  the  hour  of  its  birth, 
and  of  its  maturity,  may  be  too  closely  allied  to 
be  distinguished,  we  believe  that  faith  to  be  the 
safest  evidence,  as  it  usually  is  the  most  perma- 
nent grace,  which  increases  gradually  to  "  the 
measure  of  the  stature  of  the  fulness  of  Christ," 
Ephes.  iv,  13,  producing  "first  the  blade,  then 


IN  CHRIST  JESUS.  243 

the  ear,  after  that,  the  full  corn  in  the  ear." 
St.  Mark  iv,  2S.  While  the  faith,  which,  like 
the  gourd  of  Jonah,  springs  up  in  a  night,  like 
that  same  gourd,  too  often  perishes  in  a  night; 
unnatural  and  early  ripeness  bringing  with  it 
unnatural  and  early  rottenness. 

The  faith  of  which  we  are  speaking,  has 
usually  its  infancy  and  its  increase,  but  in  both 
of  them,  before  it  can  form  a  satisfactory  evi- 
dence, it  must  possess  this  unfailing  character- 
istic; it  must  be  perfectly  simple  in  its  object. 
It  must  look  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  to 
Him  alone,  for  all  it  seeks  for  here,  for  all  it 
hopes  for  hereafter.  The  very  weakest  faith 
will  realise,  and,  if  genuine,  must  realise,  this 
as  surely,  and  as  savingly,  as  the  very  strongest. 
But  do  not  deceive  yourselves,  my  beloved 
brethren,  nothing  is  so  easy  to  describe,  nothing 
so  difficult  to  possess,  as  this  child-like,  simple 
grace,  of  which  we  are  speaking — the  direct  act 
of  the  Spirit  of  God  upon  the  heart.  Examine 
yourselves  most  carefully  upon  this  head,  pray 
to  God  to  probe  your  hearts,  and  to  lay  them 
open  to  your  own  apprehension.  See  that 
there  be  nothing  mingled  with  the  only  object 
of  the  Christian  faith — a  suffering,  a  crucified,  a 


244  SIGNS  THAT  WE  ARE 

risen,  and  a  returning  Redeemer.  See  that 
while  one  eye  is  fixed  upon  Him,  the  other  be 
not  turned  inward  upon  yourself,  to  unite  any, 
however  small  a  portion,  of  your  own  work  to 
his  great,  and  perfect,  and  finished  sacrifice.  If, 
after  dihgent  and  prayerful  self-examination, 
you  are  enabled  to  say,  I  desire  to  trust  in  none 
but  Christ;  I  desire  to  be  taught  by  none  but 
Christ;  I  desire  to  be  ruled  by  none  but  Christ; 
I  desire  none  but  Christ  for  my  consolation 
here,  I  desire  none  but  Christ  for  my  security, 
and  my  happiness  hereafter.  However  faint 
these  feelings  may  be,  however  weak  or  minute 
be  their  apparent  hold  upon  your  heart,  be  not 
cast  down;  they  are  the  "seed  of  mustard," 
they  are  the  "smoking  flax,"  they  are  the 
"bruised  reed;"  and  you  may  say  of  the  weak- 
est, and  the  frailest  faith  like  this,  "  Hereby  I 
know  that  I  am  in  Him,"  even  in  Christ  Jesus, 
the  alpha  and  omega,  the  beginning  and  the 
end,  the  author  and  the  finisher.  I  trust,  that  I 
shall  not  be  in  Him  to-day,  as  a  dear  and  par- 
doned child,  and  out  of  Him  to-morrow,  as  a 
cast-off  and  ruined  reprobate;  surely  He  who  has 
sown  in  me  the  seed,  will  not  forsake  me  before 
that  seed  be  a  tree,  and  has  brought  forth  fruit  to 


IN  CHRIST  JESUS.  245 

life  everlasting:  He  will  complete  that  which 
he  has  committed  to  me,  He  will  keep  that 
which  I  have  committed  to  Him,  against  that 
day. 


21* 


246 


SERMOxN  XIV. 


(continuation.) 


SIGNS  THAT  WE  ARE  "IN  CHRIST 
JESUS." 


1  St.  John  ii,  5.     (Part.) 

"  HEREBY  WE  KHOW  THAT  WE  ARE  IN  HIM." 

It  was  my  endeavor,  at  the  opening  of  the 
last  discourse  from  these  words,  to  demonstrate, 
first,  from  Holy  Writ,  that  to  be  "  in  Christ  Je- 
sus," i.  e.,  to  be  united  to  him  by  a  living  and 
saving  faith,  evidencing  itself  in  all  holy  con- 
versation and  godliness,  was  the  highest  privi- 
lege of  man.  Next,  to  show,  that  it  was  an 
unquestionable  scriptural  truth,  that  every  such 
believer  in  Christ  Jesus,  or,  in  Bible  phraseo- 
logy, all  who  are  "  in  Him,"  may  arrive  at  the 
comfortable  and  blessed  knowledge  that  they 
are  in  Him;  and  lastly,  from  different  evidences 


SIGNS  THAT  WE  ARE  IN  CHRIST  JESUS.       247 

with  which  the  Word  of  God  has  furnished  us, 
to  assist  you  in  determining,  each  for  himself, 
this  great  and  unutterably  important  point. 
Our  object,  in  selecting  the  subject,  was  not 
only  the  obvious  one,  to  which  we  alluded  in 
the  last  discourse,  viz.,  the  conviction  of  the 
false  professor  to  his  own  heart,  and  the  comfort 
of  the  true;  but  still  further,  to  endeavor  to 
meet  the  objections,  first,  of  that  large  class  of 
sincere,  but  ill-instructed  persons,  who  imagine, 
that  130  presumption  is  so  great,  as  that  of  en- 
deavoring, while  on  earth,  to  ascertain,  with 
any  degree  of  certainty  their  state  as  regards 
eternity,  by  showing  these  persons,  from  the 
Word  of  God,  that  it  is  the  direct  intention  of 
the  Spirit  of  God  that  all  true  Christians  should 
arrive  at  this  most  comfortable  conclusion;  and 
next  to  endeavor  to  disabuse  the  minds  of  an- 
other and  very  different  class  among  our  hear- 
ers, of  an  error  extremely  prevalent,  that  no 
evidences  must  be  spught,  to  prove  that  we  are 
in  Christ  Jesus:  that  the  very  search  is  a  strong 
criterion  of  a  legal  spirit,  and  shows  that  we  are 
yet  mere  babes  in  the  knowledge  of  Divine 
truth. 


248  SIGNS  THAT  WE  ARE 

The  evidences  which  we  have  already  brought 
before  you  to  establish  the  important  fact  that 
you  are  "  in  Christ/^  are  these: 

I.  Have  you  any  recollection  of  the  time 
when,  or  the  manner  in  which,  you  were  first 
led  to  seek  Him,  or  have  since  been  confirmed 
and  strengthened  in  your  knowledge  of  Him? 

II.  Are  you  conscious  of  any  "preparations  of 
heart,"  any  compunctious  visitings  for  sin,  and 
godly  sorrow  for  it,  any  reduction  of  self-right- 
eousness and  bringing  down  of  the  high  look 
and  haughty  carriage  of  the  natural  heart,  as 
preceding  and  accompanying  the  reception  of 
the  Saviour?     And, 

III.  Are  the  features  of  your  faith  such,  as 
the  Bible  always  attributes  to  that  grace,  when 
it  is  the  genuine  work  of  the  Spirit  of  God;  for 
instance,  its  original  weakness  and  feebleness; 
its  perceptible  increase;  and  the  undivided  one- 
ness, the  complete  singleness  of  its  object,  desir- 
ing to  "  know  nothing  but  Jesus  Christ  and  Him 
crucified." 

We  proceed  now  to  offer  two  more  features, 
by  which  the  genuineness  of  your  faith  may  be 
determined,  forming,  therefore,  two  more  evi- 


IN  CHRIST  JESUS.  249 

dences  whereby  you  may  know  that  you  are 
"  in  Christ  Jesus."  These  are,  obedience  and 
love. 

I.  Obedience.  "  Hereby  we  do  know,  that 
we  know  Him,"  says  St.  John,  "if  we  keep  his 
commandments."  1  St.  John  ii,  3.  And  again, 
"  He  that  keepeth  his  commandments  dwelleth 
in  Him,  and  He  in  him."  1  St.  John  iii,  24.  Obe- 
dience, then,  may  be  considered  as  a  very  satis- 
factory evidence  that  you  are  "  in  Christ."  But 
you  will  observe  that  the  obedience,  which  can 
alone  be  considered  as  a  feature  of  that  faith, 
which  demonstrates  that  you  are  in  Christ,  is 
of  this  nature;  it  is  an  universal  obedience;  it 
has  respect  to  all  God's  commandments;  it  con- 
sists in  a  settled  resolution  in  the  strength  of  the 
Lord,  to  forsake  all  sin,  and  a  settled  purpose, 
and  determination  to  please  God  in  all  things. 
You  will,  perhaps,  ask.  Is  then  the  possessor  of 
this  obedience  expected  to  attain  perfection?  We 
reply,  certainly  not!  There  is  no  man,  that  liv- 
eth  and  sinneth  not,  and  if  we  say,  that  we  have 
no  sin,  we  deceive  ourselves,  and  the  truth  is 
not  in  us.  But,  perfection,  although  not  to  be 
attained  here  below,  is  to  be  perpetually  aimed 
at,  and  striven  for,  in  obedience  to  our  Lord's 


260  SIGNS  THAT  WE  ARE 

command,  "  Be  ye  therefore  perfect,  even  as 
your  Father  which  is  in  Heaven  is  perfect."  St. 
Matt.  V,  48.  The  obedience  of  which  we  speak, 
differs  from  all  other  obedience  in  this  respect, 
that  it  does  not  willingly  tolerate  a  single  sin; 
God  has  expressly  said  of  all  his  spiritual  chil- 
dren, "  I  will  put  my  laws  into  their  mind,  and 
write  them  in  their  hearts;"  Heb.  viii,  10;  i.  e., 
I  will  implant  in  them  a  spiritual  knowledge  of 
my  laws,  and  a  hearty  desire  and  inclination  to 
fulfil  even  the  least  of  them;  it  is  in  reference 
to  this  that  St.  James  says,  "  Whosoever  shall 
keep  the  whole  law  and  yet  offend  in  one  point, 
he  is  guilty  of  all."  St.  James  ii,  10.  Where 
he  evidently  does  not  and  cannot  mean,  that  he 
who  breaks  a  single  commandment,  is  guilty  of 
breaking  all,  but  he  who  allows  himself  in  the 
willing  and  habitual  transgression  of  a  single 
command,  proves  by  this  fact,  that  although  he 
does  not  actually  break  the  whole  law,  his  heart 
is  not  upright  before  God,  and  that  there  is  no 
security  against  his  breaking  every  other  com- 
mand, if  the  temptation  and  opportunity  were 
afforded  him.  You  will,  therefore,  at  once  per- 
ceive the  nature  of  your  obedience,  if  you  are 
in  Christ,  and  if  you  are  not  in  Christ.     If  you 


IN  CHRIST  JESUS.  251 

are  not  in  Christ,  you  may  make  many  resolu- 
tions against  those  sins  which  have  injnred  your 
property,  your  health,  your  character,  and  we 
believe  there  is  scarcely  an  individual  living, 
who  has  not  made  some  such,  yea,  many  such 
resolutions;  but  even  as  respects  these,  your  re- 
solutions will  not  be  so  much  against  the  sins, 
as  against  the  disgrace  and  punishment  of  them. 
But  it  will  never  be  an  universal  resolution, 
there  will  always  be  a  reservation  in  favor  of 
some  secret,  and  most  endeared  lust,  there  will 
be  some  sin,  which,  even  when  most  in  earnest, 
you  do  not  intend  really  and  for  ever  to  give 
up;  and  if  you  examine  your  own  heart  strictly, 
and  probe  it  thoroughly,  you  will  be  conscious, 
even  at  the  time,  that  there  is  some  cherished 
sin,  of  which  you  say,  as  Jacob  said  of  Benja- 
min, *•  This  shall  not  go."  Some  sin,  to  which 
you  will  cling  as  Herod,  who,  although  we  are 
told  that  he  heard  John  gladly,  and  did  many 
things,  still  had  one  beloved  lust  in  reserve, 
which  he  never  intended  to  give  up,  and  which 
was  ultimately  the  ruin  of  his  soul;  as  Judas, 
and  the  young  man  in  the  Gospel,  clung  to  their 
covetousness,  and  Demas  to  the  present  world; 
until  each  of  these  persons,  all  professors  of  re- 


252  SIGNS  THAT  WE  ARE 

ligion  to  a  certain  extent  perished  in  his  iniquity. 
Wherever  this  is  the  case,  it  is  not  the  obedience 
of  which  we  are  speaking,  it  is  no  evidence  at 
all  that  you  are  "in  Christ;"  and  however  you 
may  deceive  yourself  with  the  idea,  that  God 
will  accept  this  partial  obedience,  be  assured  his 
Word  is  true,  when  it  declares  that  though  the 
sinner  "  bless  himself  in  his  heart;  saying,  I  shall 
have  peace,  though  I  walk  in  the  imagination  of 
mine  heart,  the  Lord  will  not  spare  him,  but  the 
anger  of  the  Lord  and  his  jealousy  shall  smoke 
against  that  man,  and  the  Lord  shall  blot  out  his 
name  from  under  heaven.'^  Deut.  xxix,  19,  20. 
How  different  is  the  obedience  of  a  child  of 
God;  although  there  is  much  weakness,  there  is 
no  intentional  reservation;  there  is  a  holy  reso- 
lution, made  in  the  strength  of  God's  good  Spirit, 
to  give  up  all  sin,  however  dear,  and  however 
cherished,  at  his  command.  The  sins  which 
have  been  most  favored,  and  have  hitherto  led 
you  captive  the  most  willingly,  will  be  the  most 
dreaded,  and  the  most  denied;  yes,  they  will  be 
the  very  first,  which  you  will  devote  as  a  thank- 
offering  to  your  God.  You  will  pray  against 
all  sm,  but  you  will  watch  daily,  hourly,  mo- 
mentarily   against   these,  with    an    unceasing 


IN  CHRIST  JESUS.  253 

watch,  and  an  unsparing  warfare.  If  unholy- 
tempers  have  most  easily  beset  you,  you  will 
earnestly  watch  against  the  first  hasty  word,  or 
uncharitable  expression.  If  sins  of  licentious- 
ness have  polluted  you,  you  will  dread  even  an 
unchaste  thought,  and  shrink  from  all  ap- 
proaches to  an  immoral  word  or  action.  You 
will,  even,  as  Job  declares  that  he  did, "  make  a 
covenant  with  your  eyes,"  that  you  may  avoid 
the  poison  which  so  quickly  passes  from  the  eye 
to  the  heart.  Thus  it  will  be  in  all  things;  if 
you  are  "  in  Christ,"  while  trusting  to  His  righ- 
teousness, and  to  that  alone,  wherein  to  stand 
before  God,  you  will  be  as  anxious  in  the  work 
of  your  sanctification,  as  if  you  were  absolutely 
dependent  upon  its  tattered  shreds,  for  your 
wedding  garment.  Yet,  in  all  this,  you  will  be 
so  far  from  any  thing  like  self-righteousness  of 
spirit,  that  there  will  be  no  one  who  can  hold 
your  obedience  of  so  little  value,  in  point  of 
merit,  as  yourself.  No  one  who  can  more  truly 
say,  than  you  will  yourself  humbly  acknowledge 
that  you  are  still  but  '^  an  unprofitable  servant." 
From  obedience,  we  pass  to  the  second  fea- 
ture which  we  have  enumerated,  even  love. — 
That  this  is  a  sure  and  certain  sign  of  a  true  and 
22 


254  SIGNS  THAT  WE  ARE 

living  faith,  is  distinctly  proved  by  St.  Paul, 
when  he  declares  that  "  faith  worketh  by  love/' 
That  it  is  also  a  scriptural  evidence  of  our  being 
in  Christ,  is  stated  by  St.  John,  when  he  says, 
"We  know  that  we  have  passed  from  death 
unto  life,  because  we  love  the  brethren."  1  St. 
John  iii,  14.  And  again,  "  Every  one  that  loveth, 
is  born  of  God,  and  knoweth  God."  Ibid,  iv,  7. 
We  shall  consider  love,  then,  as  the  next  evi- 
dence that  you  are  "  in  Christ,"  and  although 
St.  John,  in  the  words  just  quoted,  speaks  exclu- 
sively of  the  love  of  the  brethren,  it  is  obvious 
that  this  must  be  preceded  by  the  grateful  love 
of  God,  in  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord,  for  he  says, 
<^  By  this  we  know  that  we  love  the  children  of 
God,  when  we  love  God;"  speaking,  therefore, 
of  love  to  God,  as  essentially  necessary  before 
we  can  love  his  children.  Are  you,  then,  at  all 
conscious  of  this  love  to  God?  Loving  him,  or 
rather  desiring  to  love  him,  with  all  your  heart, 
and  mind,  and  soul,  and  strength?  Delighting 
to  dwell  upon  all  his  mercies  to  you,  especially 
those  of  redemption,  with  continual  thankfulness 
and  joy?  Able  to  say,  with  the  Psalmist,  "  How 
precious  are  thy  thoughts  unto  me,  0  God?" 
And  again,  "  Whom  have  I  in  heaven  but  thee, 


IN  CHRIST  JESUS.  255 

and  there  is  none  upon  earth  whom  I  desire  in 
comparison  of  thee?"     Realising,  in  fact,  the 
declaration  of  St.  Peter,  "  To  you  who  beUeve, 
He  is  precious?"     This  is  a  test  most  trying, 
even  to  the  deeply-spiritual  and  renewed  mind. 
Who  can  answer  satisfactorily  to  his  own  feelings 
upon  this  point?     Who  does  not  feel  that  his 
love  to  God  is  the  coldest,  weakest,  most  humil- 
iating portion  of  his  Christian  life?     We  have 
all  an  abundance  of  love,  for  every  poor,  frail, 
undeserving  object  who  approaches  us;  but  how 
little,  how  less  than  little,  for  Him  who  deserves 
all  we  have  ever  felt,  or  ever  can  feel?     How 
does  the  excess  of  our  affection  for  earthly  ob- 
jects, condemn  the  defects  of  our  love  to  Christ, 
because  it  so  clearly  proves  that  it  is  not  the 
want  of  the  power  to  love  which  precludes  us, 
for  we  can  all  love  strongly,  deeply,  permanently 
when  any  of  the  works  of  his  own  hand  are  the 
subjects  of  it,  and  yet  we  cannot  warm  our 
hearts  to  any  thing  which  deserves  the  name  of 
love,  when  God  himself,  in  the  person  of  his 
dear  Son,  offers  himself  to  our  affections  and 
oui:  heart. 

But,  let  us  pass  from  the  love  of  God,  to  the 
love  of  his  ordinances.     How  will  you  answer 


256  SIGNS  THAT  WE  ARE 

to  this  test?  Are  you  able,  instead  of  thinking 
the  worship  of  God  a  weariness,  or  his  service  a 
restraint,  to  long  for  it,  and  delight  in  it,  to  hail- 
the  Sabbath  morn  with  pleasure,  not  because  it 
ushers  in  a  day  of  idleness,  but  a  day  of  holy 
communion  with  your  God?  Considering,  not 
how  small  a  portion  of  this  day  will  satisfy  Him, 
but  how  large  a  portion  you  can  render  him; 
loving  the  sound  of  the  Sabbath-bells  above  all 
other  music,  and  the  courts  of  the  house  of  our 
God,  above  all  other  assemblies. 

When  this  love  of  ordinances  accompanies  the 
love  of  Him  who  is  the  Lord  of  ordinances,  it  is 
a  valuable  test;  it  is  one  to  the  faithfnhiess  and 
truth  of  which  ten  thousand  hearts,  blessed  be 
God,  are  on  this  sacred  day  responding  through- 
out our  Christian  land,  and  to  the  reality  of 
which,  not  a  few  among  yourselves,  no  doubt, 
are  at  this  moment  testifying. 

But  the  love  of  which  we  speak  is,  as  we  have 
seen,  not  confined  to  the  love  of  God,  or  of  his 
day,  or  of  his  ordinances;  it  regards,  especially 
when  spoken  of  as  an  evidence  by  St.  John,  the 
love  of  the  brethren,  for,  as  he  again  declares, 
"  Every  one  that  loveth  him  that  begat,  loveth 
him  also  that  is  begotten  of  him."  1  St.  John  v. 


IN  CHRIST  JESUS.  257 

1.  This  sign,  from  the  frequent  reference  made 
to  it  by  St.  John,  we  believe  to  be  a  very  impor- 
tant one,  a  mark  which  is  often  to  be  found  in 
the  true  child  of  God,  when  other  evidences  are, 
for  a  time,  clouded  and  indistinct.  The  reason, 
probably,  that  this  sign  is  so  prominent,  in  the 
epistle  before  us  is,  that  it  was  the  evidence 
peculiarly  manifested  in  St.  John's  own  life  and 
conversation,  for  we  know,  from  the  earliest 
Church  history  which  has  been  bequeathed  to 
us,  that  his  single  monition,  whenever  in  ex- 
treme old  age,  he  entered  the  society  of  his  bro- 
ther Christians,  was  this  reiterated  expression  of 
affectionate  good  will — "Little  children,  love 
one  another."  That,  as  an  evidence,  it  is  as 
important,  as  it  is  obligatory  as  a  duty,  is  clear 
from  this  reflection,  that  it  is  utterly  impossi- 
ble, to  love  the  grace  of  God  in  the  heart  of  ano- 
ther, unless  the  grace  of  God  be  shed  abroad  in 
your  own.  It  is,  therefore,  a  remarkably  con- 
clusive test;  you  will  never  see  a  man  of  the 
world  who  can  stand  this  test.  Observe,  gene- 
rally speaking,  the  open  and  undisguised  hostil- 
ity, the  ill-concealed  sneer,  the  bitter  sarcasm, 
with  which  such  men  speak  of  the  people  of 
God.  The  very  thought  of  them  is  wormwood 
22* 


25S  SIGNS  THAT  WE  ARE 

and  gall;  and  although  the  men  of  the  world 
may,  in  some  companies,  be  compelled  to  listen, 
to  their  praises,  or  even  to  add  their  own  faint 
approbation  to  the  heartfelt  commendation  of 
others,  it  is  too  evident  by  the  pleasure  with 
which  they  hear  of  the  real  or  imaginary  deUn- 
quencies  of  God's  people,  that,  as  David  said, 
"  Though  the  words  of  their  mouth  be  smoother 
than  oil,  there  is  war  in  their  hearts;"  war, 
which,  unless  the  usages  of  society  controlled  it, 
and  the  power  of  God  kept  it  within  its  present 
boundaries,  would  even  now  break  out,  as  of 
old,  into  acts  of  persecution,  as  well  as  words  of 
bitterness,  against  tlie  peace  and  happiness  of 
God's  Church.  The  love,  therefore,  of  the  bre- 
thren, is  an  evidence  of  spiritual  life,  continually 
referred  to  in  Holy  Writ,  and  upon  which  the 
most  humble-minded  believer  may  look,  with 
thanksgiving  and  gratitude,  to  Him  from  whom 
Cometh  every  good  and  perfect  gift. 

Remember,  however,  that  before  you  can  with 
any  degree  of  safety,  say  of  this  love  in  your 
own  case,"  Hereby  I  know  that  I  am  in  Him," 
it  must  possess  these  two  qualifications:  It  must 
be  a  spiritual  love,  arising  from  the  image  of 
Christ  reflected  by  those  you  love:  and  it  must 


IN  CHRIST  JESUS.  259 

be  an  universal  love,  not  to  one,  but  to  all  our 
Lord's  redeemed  family.  The  reason  is  obvious. 
You  may  love  the  brethren  because  they  are 
amiable,  or  clever,  or  entertaining,  or  useful  to 
you,  or  because  they  are  strongly  attached  to 
yourself,  and  able  and  willing  to  promote  your 
worldly  interests;  but  this  can  form  no  evidence 
that  you  are  "  in  Christ;"  for  our  Lord  has  ex- 
pressly declared,  that  it  is  only  when  you  receive 
a  prophet  in  the  name  of  a  prophet,  that  you 
may  hope  for  a  prophet's  reward;  it  is  only 
when  you  receive  a  righteous  man  in  the  name 
of  a  righteous  man,  that  you  can  look  for  a 
righteous  man's  reward;  this,  therefore,  must  be 
a  spiritual  love.  It  must  also  be  an  universal 
love,  since  if  you  love  the  people  of  Christ,  be- 
cause they  are  the  people  of  ('hrist,  the  same 
reason  which  exists  for  loving  one,  exists  for 
loving  all;  for  the  Apostle  to  the  Corinthians 
says,  "  We  have  been  all  made  to  drink  into  one 
spirit."  You  will,  therefore,  love  the  people  of 
God  under  all  circumstances;  for  instance,  though 
they  be  hated  and  despised  of  others,  as  much 
as  if  they  were  the  objects  of  universal  regard 
and  esteem;  you  will  love  them,  though  they  be 
poor  in  this  world's  goods,  though  they  have 


260  SIGNS  THAT  WE  ARE 

many  infirmities,  though  you  have  never  even 
seen  them,  and  have  only  heard-of  them  by  the 
reports  of  others.     If  they  are  in  necessity,  you 
will  supply  their  wants  to  the  very  utmost  of 
your  power,  yea,  and  even  beyond  your  power, 
as  St.  Paul  declared  the  Macedonian  Churches, 
2  Cor.  viii,  2,  3,  had  done.     You  will  delight  in 
their  society,  infinitely  more  than  in  the  society 
of  the  great  or  the  wealthy,  or  the  learned,  or 
the  entertaining;  you  will  endeavor   to   unite 
yourself  to  them,  as  David  to    Jonathan,  in  a 
friendship  which  neither  time  nor  eternity  shall 
sever.     With  regard  to  all  other  society,  you 
may  tolerate  it,  but  you  will  be  unable  to  love 
it;  you  may  endure  it,  but  you  will  not  seek  it; 
for  "  what  communion  hath  light  with  darkness? 
and  what  fellowship  hath  righteousness  with  un- 
righteousness? and   what  concord  hath   Christ 
with  Belial?"     "  Can  two  walk  together  except 
they  be  agreed?"  says  the  Prophet  Amos.    You 
will,  indeed,  love  all  men  with  a  natural  love, 
and  in  your  necessary  communion  with  them, 
you  will  exercise  kindness  and  urbanity  towards 
them.     You  will  manifest  your  religion  to  them, 
under  as  agreeable  a  garb  as  it  can  wear,  con- 
sistently with  strict  integrity  and  uprightness; 


IN  CHRIST  JESUS.  261 

remembering  that  the  corn  and  the  tares  must 
grow  together  till  the  harvest,  that  the  iron  and 
clay  must  be  side  by  side,  although  they  never 
can  incorporate;  and,  therefore,  in  all  your  inter- 
course with  the  world,  you  will  act  like  men 
who  are  guided  by  this  affecting  consideration — 
if  these  tares  remain  tares,  they  must  inevitably 
be  burnt  up — if  this  clay  remain  clay,  it  must 
one  day  be  ground  to  powder.  For  the  sake  of 
the  Lord  our  God,  I  will  therefore  seek  to  do 
them  good;  but  I  will  have  no  part  or  lot  in 
them,  lest  when  the  destroying  angel  come,  he 
see  not  the  blood  sprinkled  on  the  door-posts, 
and  I  be  destroyed  with  the  Egyptians.  Such 
a  reflection  as  this,  while  it  makes  you  walk 
most  anxiously  yourself,  in  your  Redeemer's 
footsteps,  will  fill  you  with  a  strong  feeling  of 
tenderness  and  pity,  "  towards  them  that  are 
without."  Col.  iv,  5.  You  will  imitate  the  ex- 
ample of  St.  Paul,  who  evinced  his  deep  and 
earnest  desire  for  the  conversion  of  his  bitterest 
enemies,  when  he  exclaimed  before  Agrippa, 
"  Would  to  God,  that  not  only  thou,  but  all  that 
hear  me  this  day,  were  both  almost  and  alto- 
gether such  as  I  am."  And  could  he  feel  thus 
for  his  greatest  enemies  and  persecutors,  and  can 


262  SIGNS  THAT  WE  ARE 

yon,  if  you  are  in  Christ,  be  indifferent  as  to  the 
religious  state  of  your  friends?  Are  you  daily  and 
hourly,  it  may  be,  closely  and  intimately  associ- 
ating, from  necessity,  with  those  whom  you  fear 
have  no  saving  interest  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
and  does  this  excite  no  feeling  of  sorrow  in 
your  heart?  is  there  no  secret  prayer  for  them? 
no  effort  to  bring  them  within  the  fold,  in  which 
you  have  partaken  of  the  green  pastures,  and 
sat  beside  the  still  waters?  and  is  your  wife,  or 
your  husband,  or  your  child,  or  your  parent,  or 
your  friend,  in  such  a  state?  Then,  brethren, 
mourn  for  your  want  of  love  to  a  tenderly  be- 
seeching God,  to  a  crucified  Saviour,  to  a  perish- 
ing soul.  Can  you  endure  the  thought,  that  any 
with  whom  you  are  now  in  habits  of  necessary 
and  perhaps  affectionate  intercourse,  should  dwell 
amidst  everlasting  burnings?  They  cannot  feel 
for  themselves,  they  are  blinded  by  the  god  of 
this  world,  but  cannot  you  feel  for  them?  Be 
assured,  all  is  not  right  in  your  own  heart  if  you 
do  not;  if  it  be  thus  hard,  thus  callous,  to  the 
fate  of  others,  surely  it  is  not  the  same  "  mind 
which  was  also  in  Christ  Jesus;"  Philip,  ii,  5;  who 
expostulated,  and  entreated,  and  wept,  and  pray- 
ed for  those  who  were  without,  even  to  the  last 


IN  CHRIST  JESUS.  263 

hour  of  his  mortal  existence;  and,  in  the  over- 
flowings of  His  own  sufferings  and  woes,  felt  as 
acutely,  as  tenderly,  as  He  had  ever  felt,  for  the 
souls  of  others.  If  this,  therefore,  be  wanting, 
be  assured  that  one  test,  one  very  striking  test,  is 
absent,  of  which  to  say,  "  Hereby  I  know  that 
I  am  in  Him." 

The  last  sign  of  which  we  shall  speak,  and 
of  which  we  must  speak  briefly,  is  that  declared 
by  St.  Paul  in  his  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  "  The 
Spirit  itself  beareth  witness  with  our  spirit,  that 
we  are  the  children  of  God."  There  are,  we 
believe,  at  the  present  day,  those  who  maintain 
that  this  is  the  only  evidence  to  which  we  can 
truly  refer,  for  the  knowledge  of  our  interest  in 
Christ;  thus  denying  every  sign  which  can  be 
drawn  from  the  fruits  of  the  Spirit.  Surely  this 
is,  as  if  they  were  to  aver  that  the  fruit,  when 
hanging  in  large  and  living  clusters  from  the 
growing  vine,  could  still  form  no  sufficient  evi- 
dence that  the  tree  was  alive.  The  whole  of 
this  Epistle  is  far  too  complete  a  refutation  of 
this  error,  to  render  it  needful  for  me  to  do  more 
than  to  allude  to  it. 

The  sign  of  which  we  are  now  speaking,  is 
distinctly  referred  to  in  the  sixth  chapter  of  this 


264  SIGNS  THAT  WE  ARE 

Epistle,  "Hereby  know  we  that  we  dwell  in 
Him  and  he  in  us,  because  he  hath  given  us  of 
his  Spirit." 

You  will,  perhaps,  ask,  If  the  Spirit  of  God  is 
to  bear  witness  with  my  spirit,  how  am  I  to 
ascertain  that  it  is  indeed  the  witness  of  God's 
Spirit,  and  not  a  delusion  of  Satan? 

We  answer,  by  these  marks  following: — 

I.  The  Holy  Spirit  of  God  witnesses  only  by, 
and  according  to,  the  revealed  and  written 
Word  of  God. 

His  method  of  witnessing  to  you  that  you  are 
"in  Christ,"  is  simply  by  discovering  the  pro- 
mises in  the  Word  to  your  consciences;  per- 
suading you  that  they  belong,  not  merely  to 
the  Church  in  general,  but  to  you  individually; 
convincing  you,  that  your  sorrow  for  sin  has 
been  real,  your  love  to  the  brethren  sincere. 
Whenever  he  bears  his  witness,  he  fills  your 
heart  with  love  and  thankfulness  to  God,  and  a 
desire  after  more  holiness  of  life,  and  more  con- 
sistency of  obedience.  But  on  the  contrary,  if 
you  are  made  more  bold  and  presumptuous,  by 
what  you  consider  the  witness  of  the  Spirit;  if 
you  allow  yourself,  with  less  anxiety,  in  the 
commission  of  any  secret  sin;  if  you  grow  more 


IN  CHRIST  JESUS.  265 

careless  and  remiss  in  your  secret  duties,  more 
indifierent  in  your  prayers,  more  cold  in  your 
love,  more  regardless  of  your  temper,  less  con- 
scientious in  your  dealings  with  your  fellow- 
men,  more  anxious  to  be  thought  the  favorite 
of  God,  than  to  secure,  and  to  enjoy,  and  to  live 
upon  His  favor;  we  do  not  scruple  to  say,  that 
the  witness  within  you  is  a  false  witness,  a 
messenger  of  him  who  was  a  liar  from  the 
beginning,  and  that  you  are  listening  to  your 
ruin. 

If  any  are  still  of  opinion  that  notwithstand- 
ing these  marks,  there  must  always  be  some 
difficulty  in  ascertaining  the  genuineness  of  the 
evidence  in  question,  we  would  rest  the  matter 
upon  this  single  consideration: — Can  you  for 
a  moment  suppose  that  God  would  promise 
you  such  an  evidence  as  that  of  his  Spirit, 
witnessing  with  your  spirit,  that  you  are  in 
Christ,  and  yet  should  not  possess  the  power, 
or  the  inclination  to  convince  you  when  the 
promise  was  fulfilled?  No;  be  assured,  that 
the  witness  of  the  Spirit  always  brings  with  it 
its  own  witness,  even  a  secret  manifestation  and 
assurance  to  the  conscience,  that  it  is  the  Spirit 
of  God,  and  not  a  delusion  of  Satan. 
23 


266  SIGNS  THAT  WE  ARE 

Upon  this,  therefore,  you  may  rely,  without 
hesitation,  and  without  reserve,  for  doubting  the 
possibiUty  of  such  an  evidence,  is  as  dishonor- 
able to  God,  as  it  is  prejudicial  to  your  own 
spiritual  peace  and  comfort. 

My  Christian  brethren,  the  evidences  where- 
by you  may  know  that  you  are  "in  Christ," 
deduced,  as  we  believe,  simply  from  the  Word 
of  God,  are  now  before  you.  All  that  is  re- 
quired of  you  is,  to  take  these  evidences  home 
to  your  secret  meditations  and  prayers.  Try 
them,  not  by  human  systems,  however  highly 
approved,  but  bring  them  to  the  test  of  God's 
written  Word;  if  they  speak  not  according  to 
that,  reject  them  at  once — there  is  no  truth  in 
them.  Make  this  search,  not  in  your  own 
strength;  ^«  ask  of  Him  who  giveth  liberally 
and  upbraideth  not,"  to  reveal  these  things  to 
you.  You  are  each  and  all,  either  in  Christ,  or 
you  are  out  of  Christ;  there  is  no  third  position 
in  which  any  human  being  can  stand.  If  you 
are  not  in  Him,  we  need  not  tell  you  that  your 
baptism  has  been  fruitless,  your  religious  pro- 
fession an  empty  name,  as  empty  as  the  sound- 
ing brass,  or  the  tinkling  cymbal;  a  worthless 
counterfeit,  which  may  deceive  and  satisfy  you 


IN  CHRIST  JESUS.  267 

here,  but  which  will  utterly  fail  you  on  the 
great  day,  and  leave  you  the  lielpless  object  of 
God's  inextinguishable  justice. 

Would  to  God  that  something  which  has 
now  been  said,  might  strike  home  upon  the 
hearts  of  such  among  you,  and  convince  them 
that  they  are  at  present  destitute  of  all  which 
can  make  their  death  peaceful,  and  their  eter- 
nity happy:  that  they  are  sowing  to  the  wind, 
and  must  inevitably  reap  the  whirlwind. 
While,  to  you  whose  hearts  can  answer  to  all, 
or  to  any  of  these  evidences,  what  peace,  what 
consolation,  what  unspeakable  joy  may  be  your 
own,  while  saying,  under  the  teaching  of  God's 
good  Spirit,  "  Hereby  I  know  that  I  am  in 
him."  Knowing  this,  you  know  that  secret  of 
contentment  and  comfort  here,  which  the  world 
can  neither  bestow  nor  value.  Let  "  the  pot- 
sherds strive  with  the  potsherds  of  the  earth," 
as  the  Prophet  says:  while  in  the  sea  of  pohtics, 
or  in  the  troubled  waters  of  worldly  ambition, 
whether  it  be  of  power  or  of  wealth,  they  are 
wasting  their  little  hour,  and  vainly  imagining 
they  are  seeking  all  that  is  worth  attaining,  He 
who  sits  in  the  heaven  laughs  them  to  scorn; 
the  Lord  has  them  in  derision.     One  poor  peni- 


26S  SIGNS  THAT  WE  ARE 

tent  sinner,  received  into  Christ's  holy  and  hap- 
py fold,  is  of  more  account  in  the  sight  of  the 
God  of  heaven,  than  all  the  bustling,  intriguing, 
worldly-wise,  and  worldly-prudent  men,  who 
are  stirring  heaven  and  earth  for  some  poor 
perishing  object,  which  is,  when  seen  in  the 
light  of  eternity,  of  as  little  value  as  the  child's 
bauble,  or  the  school-boy's  rattle.  While  the 
object  which  your  are  seeking,  and  which  many 
of  you  have  doubtless  found,  is  daily  and  hourly 
increasing  in  interest  and  in  value,  as  life  and 
time,  and  all  belonging  to  them,  are  wearing 
fast  away.  Every  day  is  strengthening  your 
hold  of  this  object,  and  increasing  your  joy,  and 
bringing  nearer  its  complete  and  final  consum- 
mation. You  are  "  in  Christ"  now,  one  of  his 
mystical  body,  his  redeemed  people,  his  first- 
born Church.  Where  shall  you  be,  what  shall 
you  be,  when  the  earth,  and  all  that  is  therein, 
shall  be  burnt  up?  Where  shall  you  be,  and 
what  shall  you  be,  when  millions  upon  millions 
of  unnumbered  ages  shall  have  rolled  away? 
Blessed  be  the  name  and  promises  of  our  God, 
"in  Christ,"  still  perfected  and  glorified,  but 
still  a  member  of  the  same  Church,  and  rejoic- 
ing even  for  ever,  and  for  ever,  in  the  presence 


IN  CHRIST  JESUS.  269 

of  the  same  Saviour.  And  will  you  now  go 
away  and  be  as  careless,  and  as  thoughtless, 
and  as  worldly  as  those  around  you?  God  for- 
bid! If  you  know  that  you  are  in  Christ,  live 
to  Him,  honor  Him,  glorify  Him,  long  for  the 
day  when  that,  which  the  Spirit  of  God  has 
now  revealed  to  your  own  heart,  shall  be  re- 
vealed by  the  voice  of  Christ  himself,  to  assem- 
bled worlds,  and  he  shall  say  of  you,  while 
heaven  and  earth  are  passing  away,  and  all 
that  hath  been  is  no  more,  "  Father,  I  will  that 
they  whom  thou  hast  given  me,  be  with  me 
where  I  am,  that  they  may  behold  my  glory.^' 


23' 


270 


SERiMOxN  XV. 

THE  MINISTER'S  LAST  WISH  FOR  HIS 
PEOPLE. 


1  Cor.  I,  3. 


"  GRACE  BE  UNTO  YOU,  AND  PEACE,  FROM  GOD  OUR 
FATHER,  AND  FROM  THE  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST." 

It  is  a  custom  sanctioned  by  antiquity,  and 
endeared  by  the  earliest  and  fondest  recollec- 
tions of  the  human  heart,  that  relatives  and 
friends,  upon  the  different  joyous  anniversaries 
which  mark  their  lives,  should  meet  with  mutual 
expressions  of  affection  and  good-will.  In  youth, 
these  congratulations  partake  of  the  thought- 
lessness and  joyousness  of  all  around  us,  and 
are  generally  limited  to  the  many  wished-for  re- 
turns of  the  festive  day,  or  to  many  years  of 
health  and  prosperity.  As  we  advance  in  life, 
especially  if  we  advance  also  in  Christian  know- 
ledge, and  Christian   love,  these   anniversaries 


THE  minister's  LAST  WISH,  &C.  271 

partake,  if  not  of  a  solemn,  at  least  of  a  more 
sober  and  subdued  character,  while  our  former 
vague  expressions  of  good-will,  become  gradu- 
ally moulded  into  benedictions  and  prayers;  and 
Ave  meet  on  such  occasions,  with  the  feelings  of 
persons,  who  hoping  to  dwell  together  through- 
out eternity,  cannot  be  satisfied  to  limit  their 
good  wishes,  to  the  transitory  scenes  of  this  mor- 
tal life,  but  are  anxious  to  carry  them  forward 
to  that  blissful  and  boundless  state  which  Hes 
beyond  it.  That  such  was  the  feeling  of  the 
Apostle  towards  those  to  whom  he  was  writing, 
the  benediction  of  the  text  abundantly  testifies; 
he  was  evidently  anxious,  from  the  overflowings 
of  a  warm  and  affectionate  heart,  to  convey  to 
those  he  loved,  so  far  as  his  sincere  aspirations 
could  convey  them,  the  same  spiritual  gifts  and 
graces,  and  anticipations  of  happiness,  which  he 
himself  possessed,  and  delighted  in,  "  with  joy 
unspeakable,  and  full  of  glory." 

Upon  this  day,  then,  beloved  brethren,  the 
tenth  anniversary  of  our  union  as  minister  and 
people,  it  is  not  unnatural  that  our  thoughts 
should  be  mutually  occupied  with  feelings  and 
wishes  such  as  these.  That,  as  your  minister, 
appointed  by  God,  and  as  one  who  "  must  give 


272  THE  minister's  last  wish 

account/'  Hebrews  xiii,  17,  I  should,  from  the 
very  ground  of  my  heart,  humbly,  yet  fervently 
desire,  that  this  aspiration,  for  all  and  every 
one  among  you,  should  be  heard,  and  for  the 
sake  of  our  blessed  Mediator,  registered  for  ful- 
filment in  the  courts  of  the  heavenly  temple — 
''  Grace  be  unto  you,  and  peace  from  God  our 
Father,  and  from  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ." 

To  some,  perhaps,  it  might,  on  such  an  occa- 
sion as  the  present  appear  more  appropriate,  that 
I  should  revert  to  the  many  failures  and  short- 
comings, the  infirmities,  disappointments,  and 
sins,  which  have  marked  my  ministry  among 
you,  rather  than  permit  my  feelings  to  take  the 
shape  of  a  benediction:  but  deeply  penetrated 
as  I  trust  I  am  by  the  recollection,  and  pained 
by  the  sense  of  these  things,  I  feel  that  they  are 
not  the  subjects  to  bring  before  a  congregation; 
they  are  indeed  of  the  highest  interest,  and  of  the 
deepest  import  to  my  own  soul;  but  as  it  is  ''with 
me  a  very  small  thing  that  I  should  be  judged  of 
you  or  of  man's  judgment,"  for  "  He  that  judg- 
eth  me  is  the  Lord,"  so  it  is  with  me  a  very 
solemn  conviction,  that  these  topics  are  not  cal- 
culated for  the  pulpit,  but  should  be  confined 
strictly  to  the  .secret  intercourse  between  God 


FOR  HIS  PEOPLE.  273 

and  our  own  souls.  It  is  enough,  upon  this 
head,  that  I  have  been  "  with  you  in  weakness, 
and  in  fear,  and  in  much  trembling,"  but  that 
we  serve  a  Master  who  is  touched  with  a  feeling 
of  all  our  infirmities,  and  whose  blood  cleanseth 
from  all  sin;  a  Shepherd  full  of  tenderness,  and 
full  of  love,  to  whom  we  must  one  day  give  an 
account  of  onr  ministry;  and,  blessed  be  God,  to 
whom  we  would  rather  render  that  account 
than  to  the  kindest,  dearest,  most  sympathising 
of  earthly  friends,  with  whom  God  has  ever 
blessed  us. 

Upon  the  present  occasion,  then,  1  shall  con- 
fine myself  to  desiring  for  you  those  abundant 
blessings,  to  which  I  have  already  adverted,  and 
which  are  so  concisely,  yet  fully,  comprised  in 
the  text. 

Let  us  commence  by  considering,  generally, 
what  is  implied  in  the  language  of  the  Apostle. 

I.  "  Grace  be  unto  you." 

Who  can  correctly  define,  who  can  adequately 
expatiate  upon  that  word,  so  sweet,  so  endeared, 
so  comprehensive — the  grace  of  God!  It  is  not 
health,  it  is  not  honor,  it  is  not  fame,  it  is  not 
riches,  but  it  is  something  which  as  infinitely 
outweighs,  and  as  immeasureably  excels  them 


274  THE  minister's  last  wish 

all,  as  the  soul  outvalues  the  body,  and  as  eter- 
nity outmeasures  time.  For,  if  the  Word  of 
God  be  true.  Divine  grace  is  the  very  life  of  the 
soul ;  we  are  utterly  lost,  until  grace  seeks  and 
finds  us;  we  are  entirely  dead,  until  grace  raises 
and  quickens  us;  we  are  irrevocably  ruined, 
until  grace  redeems  and  saves  us.  All  mercies, 
all  duties,  meet  and  are  concentrated  in  this 
little  word;  and,  in  wishing  you  the  fulness  of 
grace,  we  desire  for  you,  on  the  part  of  God,  the 
largest  abundance  of  His  love  to  you,  filling 
your  heart,  and,  on  the  part  of  man,  the  largest 
returns  of  your  love  to  Him,  filling  your  life, 
and  exemplifying  itself  in  your  daily  walk  and 
conversation. 

H.  <'  Grace  be  unto  you,  and  peace." 
These  blessings,  the  Apostle  knew  were  some- 
times separated.  There  are  many  who,  in  sea- 
sons of  spiritual  desertion  or  temptation,  possess 
grace,  but  have  no  peace;  and  again,  there  are 
many  living  in  carelessness  and  indifference,  with 
hearts  unchanged  and  minds  unrenewed,  who 
possess  peace,  such  peace  as  the  world  can  bestow, 
although  they  have  no  grace.  In  the  benedic- 
tion of  the  text,  both  are  united,  that  it  may  at 
once  be  visible,  that  the  grace,  which  St.  Paul 


FOT  HIS  PEOPLE.  275 

desired  for  his  converts,  was  that  grace  which 
would  sooner  or  later,  bring  peace  with  her  into 
the  heart,  as  her  holy  and  happy  handmaid;  and 
the  peace  which  he  desired  for  them,  that  peace 
which  could  not  exist  long  in  a  state  of  separa- 
tion from  her  mistress,  but  wherever  grace  en- 
tered, would  unquestionably  enter  in  her  train. 

This  double  blessing,  the  Apostle  speaks  of, 
as  flowing  from  a  double  spring,  "Grace  be 
unto  you,  and  peace  from  God  our  Father,  and 
from  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.^'  From  God  the 
Father,  because  he  bestows  them  upon  us  of 
His  own  free  will,  and  from  God  the  Son,  be- 
cause He  works  them  in  us,  by  his  own  free 
Spirit. 

Having  observed  thus  much  generally  upon 
the  different  portions  of  the  Apostle's  benedic- 
tion, let  us  proceed  to  consider  them  a  little 
more  in  detail. 

I.  In  saying,  "Grace  be  unto  you,"  we 
would  desire  from  God  our  Father,  through 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  that  he  would  render 
you  by  the  power  of  His  Spirit,  partakers  of 
that  grace  of  God,  which  justifies  you,  or  ena- 
bles you  to  be  accounted  holy  before  God;  that 
grace  which  brings  you  at  once  to  the  Lord 


276  THE  minister's  last  wish 

Jesus  Christ  for  the  remission  of  your  sins, 
the  curse  of  sin  being  removed,  the  guilt  of  sin 
washed  away,  the  power  of  sin  and  the  predo- 
minancy of  sin  in  your  heart,  being  for  ever 
broken. 

We  trust  that  as  regards  many  to  whom  we 
are  now  speaking,  the  object  of  this  benediction 
has  been  already  accomplished,  but  must  we 
not  at  the  same  time  fear,  that  there  are  still 
some  in  every  Christian  congregation,  to  whom 
it  is  experimentally  known? 

Do  I  address  none  among  you,  who  are  yet 
at  a  distance  from  Him,  who  said,  "  No  man 
Cometh  unto  the  Father,  but  by  me,"  and, 
therefore,  are  still  at  a  distance  from  God? 
None  who  are  content  if  they  perform  the  ex- 
ternal duties  of  religion,  and  avoid  all  gross  and 
crying  immoralities,  and  yet  cannot  for  a  mo- 
ment imagine  that  they  have  ever  received  the 
offers  of  a  crucified  Saviour,  and  entered  into 
close  and  intimate  communion  with  Him?  You 
have,  it  may  be,  constantly  attended  a  house  of 
prayer,  you  have,  therefore,  offered  many  peti- 
tions, you  have  heard  many  discourses,  in  which 
the  free  grace  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus,  to  accept 
and   justify   your    persons,  has    been    clearly 


FOR  HIS  PEOPLE.  277 

pointed  out  to  you;  you  have  even,  perhaps, 
approved  of  what  you  have  heard,  pronounced 
it  to  be  agreeable  to  the  revealed  Word  of  God, 
and  yet  it  has  effected  no  soUd  and  substantial 
lodging-place  in  your  heart.  Your  affections 
are  unrenewed,  your  temper  unimproved,  your 
lusts  unconquered.  What  good  then  has  been 
wrought  by  all  the  ministrations  at  which  you 
have  been  present?  Have  you  reason  to  hope, 
that  you  have  been  rendered,  in  any  degree, 
more  meet  to  be  partakers  of  the  inheritance  of 
the  saints  in  light?  More  conformed  to  the  will 
of  God,  more  likened  to  the  image  of  Christ  Je- 
sus our  Lord?  No  I  yourselves  being  the 
judges,  you  confess  that  you  are  not.  You 
may,  indeed  have  attained  to  a  greater  know- 
ledge of  God's  Word  and  God's  will,  but  the 
Bible  assures  us,  that  "  With  the  heart  man  be- 
lieveth  unto  righteousness,'^  and  your  heart 
remains  unchanged. 

Surely,  then,  as  the  "  Helpers  of  your  joy," 
1  Cor.  i,  24,  we  have  great  and  pressing  reasons 
for  offering,  as  we  do  this  day  from  our  inmost 
heart,  the  benediction  of  the  text,  "  Grace  be 
unto  you." 

Brethren,  however  lightly  the  world  may 
24 


278  THE  minister's  last  wish 

regard  the  connection   between   minister    and 
people,  however  lowly  it  may  estimate  the  mi- 
nisterial office,  we  cannot  but  feel  the  connec- 
tion to  be  one  of  the  most  solemn,  most  endear- 
ing relationships  which  can  occupy  the  heart  of 
man,  and  the   office   the  most  sublime  which 
can  engage  his  powers.     The  revealed  Word  of 
God  is  the  foundation  of  this  feeling,  for  it  has 
placed  the  ministerial  office  in  a  point  of  view 
the  most  exalted  and  the  most  impressive.     It 
does  not  indeed  tell  us,  as  a  new,  and,  as  we 
believe,  an  erring  party  in  our  own  Church,  is 
at  present   teUing  us,  that  we   are  "  intrusted 
with  the  awful  and  mysterious  gift  of  making 
the  bread  and  wine,  Christ's  body  and  blood," 
and  that  we  "  have  power  over  the  gifts  of  the 
Holy   Ghost,"    with   many   other  assumptions 
more  worthy  of  the  darkest  days  of  Popery, 
than  of  the  Gospel  light  in  which  we  live,  but  it 
does   tell   us,  that  "We  are   ambassadors  for 
Christ,  as  though  God  did  beseech  you  by  us;" 
2  Cor.   V,  20;  and   it  does  commission   us  to 
"  pray  you  in  Christ's  stead.  Be  ye  reconciled 
to  God."     It  urges  us,  as  "  Workers  together 
with  Him,  to  beseech  you  that  ye  receive  not 
the  grace  of  God  in  vain."   2  Cor.  vi,  1.   Surely, 


FOR  HIS  PEOPLE.  279 

then,  it  is  an  especial  portion  of  our  duty,  as  the 
minister  of  God,  to  endeavor  to  impress  upon 
you  your  need  of  the  blessing  in  the  text.  For 
can  there  be  a  more  affecting  feeUng  to  the 
heart  of  a  minister,  than  the  thought  that  he 
speaks,  week  after  week,  to  some  who  do  not 
hear,  to  some  who  will  not  hear;  while  he 
knows  that  the  day  may  come,  and  deeply  fears 
that  it  must  come,  when  God  shall  say,  judici- 
ally, of  all  such,  "  They  shall  not  hear.'^  Is  it 
not  sufficient  most  deeply  to  pain  our  hearts,  to 
know  that  he  who  stands  before  you,  as  the 
ambassador  of  Christ,  bringing  his  offers  of  grace 
and  peace  freely  to  every  soul  among  you,  may 
hereafter  be  compelled  to  confront  you  as  your 
accuser;  to  prove  that  you  were  plainly  warned, 
that  you  were  strongly  counselled,  that  you 
were  affectionately  entreated  to  receive  the 
grace  of  God,  and  that  you  listened,  agreed  to 
the  propriety,  confessed  your  necessity,  and  then 
calmly  and  deliberately  put  these  offers  from 
you,  and  waited  for  a  more  "  convenient  sea- 
son.'^ 

If  you  are  conscious  that  this  describes  your 
own  state  at  the  present  moment,  how  earnestly 
would  we  beseech  the  God  and  Father  of  our 


2S0 

Lord  Jesus  Christ,  that  you  might  no  longer 
hesitate,  no  longer  procrastinate,  but  to-day, 
while  it  is  called  to-day,  be  united  to  Him  in  a 
bond  which  shall  never  be  broken,  and  be  made 
the  recipient  of  his  renewing,  justifying,  sancti- 
fying grace. 

But,  the  Apostle,  as  we  have  seen,  did  not 
confine  his  good  wishes  to  his  converts,  merely 
to  an  abundance  of  grace,  valuable  as  is  that 
bkssing;  he  also  desired  for  them  "Peace:" 
"  Grace  be  unto  you,  and  peace."  Here,  how- 
ever, we  must  for  a  moment  pause;  we  have 
besought  of  God  for  you  all,  without  distinction 
and  without  reserve,  a  large  portion  of  His  grace; 
to  the  ungodly,  converting  and  renewing  grace; 
to  the  godly,  sanctifying  and  supporting  grace; 
but  we  dare  not  be  thus  general,  in  our  petitions 
for  the  blessing,  of  which  we  are  no^v  about  to 
speak.  We  cannot  venture  to  desire  "  Peace," 
indiscriminately  for  all.  Were  we  to  wish, 
"  Peace,"  for  any  of  you,  brethren,  who  are  still 
separated  from  God,  still  unrenewed,  and  unjus- 
tified, living  ia  the  world  and  to  the  world,  it 
would  be  to  ask  for  you  the  heaviest  of  ills,  the 
most  bitter  of  all  maledictions.  Such  a  peace 
the  prophet  Isaiah  has  not  scrupled  to  designate 


FOR  HIS  PEOPLE.  281 

as  a  "covenant  with  death,  an  agreement  with 
hell;"  the  strongest  mark  of  displeasure  with 
which  an  offended  God  can  visit  you,  is  to  estab- 
lish this  covenant,  to  respect  this  agreement,  to 
perpetuate  this  peace.  No,  my  brethren,  to  you 
who  have  not  been  made  the  subjects  of  God's 
justifying  and  sanctifying  grace,  we  wish  any 
thing,  every  thing,  but  peace.  We  do  so  with 
the  sincerest  feelings  of  affection  and  love,  and 
this,  not  merely  to  your  perishing  bodies,  but  to 
your  undying  souls;  we  desire  for  you,  every 
cross,  every  sorrow,  every  trial,  every  disap- 
pointment, every  arrow  with  which  the  quiver 
of  God  is  charged,  until  some  one  may  pierce 
your  heart,  and  the  hand  which  holds  the  bow 
may  pluck  you  as  a  brand  from  the  burning, 
and  place  you  in  safety  upon  the  Rock,  where 
alone  to  be  at  peace,  is  to  be  eternally  and  un^ 
speakably  happy. 

We  charge  you,  above  all  things,  beware  of 
the  peace  of  the  world;  it  is  a  dying,  fading, 
transitory  thing;  nay,  it  is  worse  than  this,  it  is 
a  betraying,  deluding,  eternally-destroying  thing. 
We  do  not  tell  you  that  the  world  can  give  no 
peace;  the  lives,  and  even  the  deaths,  of  many 
of  its  most  devoted  followers  would  contradict 
24* 


282 

us;  it  can  give  a  temporary  repose,  as  even  our 
Lord  himself  acknowledged,  when  he  said, 
speaking  of  the  "  peace"  which  he  bequeaths 
his  people,  "  Not  as  the  world  giveth,  give  I 
unto  you."  It  does  continually  give  it;  it  pre- 
sents it  as  one  of  the  most  common,  as  well  as 
the  most  noxious  of  its  immunities;  it  holds  the 
poisoned  chalice  to  the  lips  of  all  its  votaries, 
and  if  you  have  not  drunk  it,  the  grace  of  God 
has  alone  prevented  you.  This  peace  of  the 
world,  although  but  temporary,  lasts  often  to  the 
very  verge  of  time,  so  that  even  inspiration  itself 
has  declared,  that  "  the  wicked  have  no  bands 
in  their  death."  Lide  the  bird,  of  which  travel- 
lers tell,  that  fans  its  victims  with  its  pinions, 
until  their  sleep  be  sound,  while  it  draws  the 
life-blood  from  their  body,  and  gives  them  no 
waking  moment,  until  their  temporary  slumbers 
are  made  perpetual,  by  the  cold  hand  of  death; 
so  does  the  world  lull  into  slumber  the  poor 
deceived  soul,  and  keep  it  thus,  in  an  unbroken 
calm,  even  to  the  solemn  moment,  when  it 
awakes  in  eternity,  and  its  peace  is  for  the  first 
time  broken,  by  the  worm  which  shall  never 
die,  and  the  fire  which  shall  never  be  quenched. 
May  God,  in  his  infinite  mercy,  preserve  us  from 


FOR  HIS  PEOPLE.  283 

such  a  peace  as  this:  so  far  from  wishing  it  to 
be  the  portion  of  any  among  yon,  we  most  ear- 
nestly pray  God  that  you  may  never  be  the  ob- 
jects of  it,  or,  if  you  are  for  a  time  soothed  by 
the  spirit  of  the  world  in  which  you  live,  into 
slumbers  such  as  these,  that  you  may  be  aroused, 
awakened,  and  for  ever  disenthralled  from  its 
dreadful  fascinations. 

When  we  say,  "  Peace  be  unto  you,"  then, 
we  address  those  only  who  have  been  the  sub- 
jects of  that  justifying  and  sanctifying  grace  of 
which  we  have  already  spoken.  The  desire  of 
our  hearts  for  you  this  day,  is  "  peace."  Peace 
in  life,  peace  in  death,  peace  throughout  eternityj 
we  believe  that  we  can  ask  for  you,  from  the 
treasury  of  God,  no  higher,  richer,  or  more  satis- 
fying portion. 

Peace  in  life,  we  pray  may  be  yours;  peace 
in  all  the  increasingly  difficult  duties,  with  which 
as  we  advance  in  years,  life  must  abound.  May 
every  duty  to  which  you  are  called,  however 
difficult,  or  however  harassing,  reflect,  in  passing, 
such  peace  upon  your  conscience,  that  you  may 
find,  as  David  found,  that  "  in  keeping  God's 
commandments  there  is  great  reward,"  and  that, 
at  the  close  of  your  course,  you  may  be  enabled 


284  THE  minister's  last  wish 

to  say  with  St.  Paul,  "  Our  rejoicing  is  this,  the 
testimony  of  our  conscience,  that  in  simplicity 
and  godly  sincerity,  by  the  grace  of  God,  we 
have  had  our  conversation  in  the  world." — 
Again,  peace  be  yours,  peace  in  all  the  trials, 
and  sorrows,  and  disappointments  of  life,  that 
peace  "with  which  a  stranger  intermeddleth 
not,"  which  flows  from  the  sense  of  God's  par- 
doning love,  of  your  union  with  Christ,  of  your 
promised  and  approaching  felicity.  A  peace 
which  the  heaviest  storms  shall  not  disperse, 
nor  the  wildest  tempests  terrify.  A  peace  which 
shall  outlive  all  trials,  all  sorrows,  all  disappoint- 
ments, which  shall  gain  fresh  strength  from  every 
visitation,  and  shall  become  more  firm,  and 
solid,  and  unchangeable,  as  all  earthly  props  are 
taken  from  you,  and  all  worldly  comforts  fail. 

Peace  in  death,  we  pray  may  be  yours.  Dy- 
ing grace  for  a  dying  hour.  We  shall  all  greatly 
need  it,  for  we  shall  have  that  to  do  which  we 
have  never  done,  and  which  our  finite  powers 
are- but  little  calculated  to  achieve;  to  meet  the 
last  enemy^  to  fight,  to  conquer,  yea,  to  be  more 
than  conqueror  through  Him  that  loved  us. 
Then  will  be  seen,  as  Moses  said,  "  Who  are 
the  Lord's,  and  who  is  holy;"  Numbers  xvi,  5; 


FOR  HIS  PEOPLE.  285 

who  have  received  the  offers  of  a  Saviour,  and 
been  clothed  in  the  garments  of  salvation,  and 
made  meet  to  sit  down  at  the  marriage  supper 
of  the  Lamb.  Many  of  you,  who  have  never 
before  known  peace,  shall  know  it  then;  and 
some,  perhaps,  be  permitted  to  feel  such  happi- 
ness at  that  solemn  hour,  as  one  who  has  now 
departed  to  his  rest,  felt,  when  he  thus  expressed 
himself  on  the  eve  of  nature's  dissolution,  "  Is 
this  dying?  would  that  it  might  last  for  ever!" 
For  be  assured,  that  however  great  your  dread 
of  the  last  enemy  may  now  be,  his  terrors  shall 
lose  their  power  as  he  approaches,  and  you  shall 
find,  that  as  Satan  is  but  a  chained  lion,  so  death 
is  but  a  stingless  serpent,  to  you  who  are  "  in 
Christ  Jesus."  For  has  He  not  revealed  that 
He  came  to  "  Deliver  them  who,  through  fear 
of  death,  are  all  their  life-time  subject  to  bon- 
dage?" Heb.  ii,  15. 

Lastly,  Peace  throughout  eternity,  we  pray 
may  be  yours.  Yes,  beloved  brethren,  this  is 
the  consummation,  and  nothing  short  of  this 
is  the  consummation  of  our  desires  and  prayers 
for  all,  and  for  each  of  you,  peace  throughout 
eternity.     Having  enjoyed  peace  in  the  perform- 


286  THE  minister's  last  wish 

ance  of  all  duties;  in  the  endurance  of  all  trials; 
in  the  resistance  of  all  temptations:  and  having 
experienced  its  solace  on  the  bed  of  sickness,  and 
at  the  hour  of  death  may  you  enter  upon  that 
eternal  and  unbroken  "rest  which  remaineth  for 
the  people  of  God;''  that  peace  which  no  sin 
shall  interrupt,  no  sorrow  sully;  that  peace  which 
has  existed  through  all  eternity,  and  shall  exist 
through  all  eternity,  in  the  immediate  presence 
of  the  Triune  Jehovah,  in  the  Church  of  the 
First-born,  for  which  all  church-membership  on 
earth,  is  the  preparation,  and  of  which  it  is  the 
faint  and  imperfect  type.  That  will  be,  indeed 
a  glorious  day,  when  prayer  shall  be  exchanged 
for  praise;  when  discourses,  dark  and  imperfect 
discourses,  concerning  God  and  his  Christ,  shall 
give  place  to  the  open  vision  of  Him,  to  seeing 
with  our  own  eyes,  the  "King  in  his  beauty," 
to  hearing  with  our  own  ears,  the  blissful  accents 
of  his  voice;  when  sacramental  recollections  of 
Him  shall  cease,  and  we  shall  sit  down  at  His 
table,  and  be  partakers  of  his  throne;  when 
these  earthly  temples,  in  which  we  have  so  often 
and  so  long  delighted  to  meet  together  for  the 
worship   of  God,  yea,  when  all  temples  shall 


FOR  HIS  PEOPLE.  287 

have  passed  away,  no  longer  needed;  for  we 
shall  "  see  no  temple  there,  for  God  Almighty 
and  the  Lamb  are  the  temple  of  it." 

May  these  holy  services  which  we  have  been 
permitted  to  commence  together,  be  perpetuated 
in  the  far  more  perfect  and  blessed  services  above. 
May  many  among  you  be  then  "  our  joy  and 
crown  of  rejoicing;"    and  may   we  be  yours, 
when  ministers  and  people  shall  meet  in  the  pre- 
sence of  Him,  whose  name  we  bear,  and  whose 
love  shall  be  the  everlasting  subject  of  our  song; 
when  that  grace,  which  we  now  desire  for  you 
and  for  ourselves,  shall  be  exchanged  for  glory, 
and  that  peace,  for  ever  perfected  in  the  eternal 
mansions  of  our  Father's  house. 


THE  END. 


